•THE- 

•JOHN  -FRYER* 
CHINESE-  LIBRARY 


THE  EELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


WRITINGS   OF    WILLIAM    ELLIOT   GRIFFIS. 


COREA,  THE    HERMIT   NATION. 
THE    MIKADO'S   EMPIRE. 
JAPANESE    FAIRY   WORLD. 
JAPAN:     In  History,   Folk-lore,  and  Art. 
MATTHEW   CALBRAITH    PERRY. 
HONDA,  THE    SAMURAI. 
TOWNSEND  HARRIS. 


THE 

RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


FEOM  THE  DAWS  OF  j 

TO  THE  EEA  OF  MEIJI 


BY 

WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GEIFFIS,  D.D. 

(\ 

FORMERLY  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO ;  AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MIKADO'S 

EMPIRE"  AND  "  COREA,   THE  HERMIT   NATION;"  LATE   LECTURER  ON  THE 

MORSE  FOUNDATION  IN  UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  IN  NEW  YORK 


"I  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."— THE  SON  OF  MAN 


THIRD  EDITION,  REVISED. 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES   SCEIBNEE'S   SONS 
1896 


I  a  q  / 
/    o    /  6? 


JOHN  FRYER 
CHINESE  LIBRARY 

COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW  DIRECTORY 

BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 
EW  YORK 


IN  GLAD  RECOGNITION  OF  THEIR  SERVICES  TO  THE  WORLD 

AND 
IN  GRATEFUL  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  MY  OWN  GREAT  DEBT  TO  BOTH 

I  DEDICATE  THIS  BOOK 
SO  UNWORTHY  OF  ITS  GREAT  SUBJECT 

TO 

THOSE  TWO  NOBLE  BANDS  OF  SEEKERS  AFTER  TRUTH 
THE  FACULTY  OF  UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINABY 

OF  WHOM 

CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS  AND  GEORGE  L.  PRENTISS 
ARE  THE  HONORED  SURVIVORS 

AND  TO 

THAT  TRIO  OF  ENGLISH  STUDENTS 

ERNEST  M.  SATOW,  WILLIAM  G.  ASTON  AND  BASIL  H.  CHAMBERLAIN 
WHO  LAID  THE   FOUNDATIONS  OF  CRITICAL  SCHOLARSHIP  IN  JAPAN 


"IN  UNCONSCIOUS  BROTHERHOOD,  BINDING  THE  SELF-SAME  SHEAF" 


751552 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  makes  no  pretence  of  furnishing  a  mir- 
ror of  contemporary  Japanese  religion.  Since  1868, 
Japan  has  been  breaking  the  chains  of  her  intellectual 
bondage  to  China  and  India,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 
My  purpose  has  been,  not  to  take  a  snap-shot  photo- 
graph, but  to  paint  a  picture  of  the  past.  Seen  in  a 
lightning-flash,  even  a  tempest-shaken  tree  appears 
motionless.  A  study  of  the  same  organism  from  acorn 
to  seed-bearing  oak,  reveals  not  a  phase  but  a  life.  It 
is  something  like  this — "  to  the  era  of  Meiji  "  (A.D.  1868 
-1894  +  )  which  I  have  essayed.  Hence  I  am  perfect- 
ly willing  to  accept,  in  advance,  the  verdict  of  smart 
inventors  who  are  all  ready  to  patent  a  brand-new 
religion  for  Japan,  that  my  presentation  is  "anti- 
quated." 

The  subject  has  always  been  fascinating,  despite  its 
inherent  difficulties  and  the  author's  personal  limita- 
tions. When  in  1867,  the  polite  lads  from  Satsuma 
and  Kioto  came  to  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  they  found 
at  least  one  eager  questioner,  a  sophomore,  who,  while 
valuing  books,  enjoyed  at  first  hand  contemporaneous 
human  testimony. 

When  in  1869,  to  Rutgers  College,  came  an  applica- 
tion through  Rev.  Dr.  Guido  F.  Yerbeck,  of  Tokio,  from 
Fukui  for  a  young  man  to  organize  schools  upon  the 


Vlll  PREFACE 

American  principle  in  the  province  of  Echizen  (ultra- 
Buddhistic,  yet  already  so  b'berally  leavened  by  the 
ethical  teachings  of  Yokoi  He.  'hiro),  the  Faculty  made 
choice  of  the  author.  Accepting  the  honor  and  privi- 
lege of  being  one  of  the  "  beginners  of  a  better  time,"  I 
caught  sight  of  peerless  Fuji  and  set  foot  on  Japanese 
soil  December  29,  1870.  Amid  a  cannonade  of  new 
sensations  and  fresh  surprises,  my  first  walk  was  tak- 
en in  company  with  the  American  missionary  (once  a 
marine  in  Perry's  squadron,  who  later  invented  the  jin- 
riki-sha),  to  see  a  hill-temple  and  to  study  the  wayside 
shrines  around  Yokohama.  Seven  weeks'  stay  in  the 
city  of  Yedo— then  rising  out  of  the  debris  of  feudalism 
to  become  the  Imperial  capital,  Tokio,  enabled  me  to 
see  some  things  now  so  utterly  vanished,  that  by  some 
persons  their  previous  existence  is  questioned.  One 
of  the  most  interesting  characters  I  met  personally  was 
Fukuzawa,  the  reformer,  and  now  "the  intellectual 
father  of  half  of  the  young  men  of  ...  Japan." 
On  the  day  of  the  battle  of  Uyeno,  July  11,  1868,  this 
far-seeing  patriot  and  inquiring  spirit  deliberately  de- 
cided to  keep  out  of  the  strife,  and  with  four  compan- 
ions of  like  mind,  began  the  study  of  Wayland's  Moral 
Science.  Thus  were  laid  the  foundations  of  his  great 
school,  now  a  university. 

Journeying  through  the  interior,  I  saw  many  inter- 
esting phenomena  of  popular  religions  which  are  no 
longer  visible.  At  Fukui  in  Echizen,  one  of  the 
strongholds  of  Buddhism,  I  lived  nearly  a  year,  en- 
gaged in  educational  work,  having  many  opportunities 
of  learning  both  the  scholastic  and  the  popular  forms 
of  Shinto  and  of  Buddhism.  I  was  surrounded  by 
monasteries,  temples,  shrines,  and  a  landscape  richly 


PREFACE  ix 

embroidered  with  myth  and  legend.  During  my  four 
years'  residence  and  travel  in  the  Empire,  I  perceived 
that  in  all  things  the  people  of  Japan  were  too  re- 
ligious. 

In  seeking  light  upon  the  meaning  of  what  I  saw  be- 
fore me  and  in  penetrating  to  the  reasons  behind  the 
phenomena,  I  fear  I  often  made  myself  troublesome  to 
both  priests  and  lay  folk.  While  at  work  in  Tokio, 
though  under  obligation  to  teach  only  physical  science, 
I  voluntarily  gave  instruction  in  ethics  to  classes  in 
the  University.  I  richly  enjoyed  this  work,  which,  by 
questioning  and  discussion,  gave  me  much  insight  into 
the  minds  of  young  men  whose  homes  were  in  every 
province  of  the  Empire.  In  my  own  house  I  felt  free 
to  teach  to  all  comers  the  religion  of  Jesus,  his  reve- 
lation of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  ethics  based 
on  his  life  and  words.  While,  therefore,  in  studying  the 
subject,  I  have  great  indebtedness  to  acknowledge  to 
foreigners,  I  feel  that  first  of  all  I  must  thank  the  na- 
tives who  taught  me  so  much  both  by  precept  and  prac- 
tice. Among  the  influences  that  have  helped  to  shape 
my  own  creed  and  inspire  my  own  life,  have  been  the 
beautiful  lives  and  noble  characters  of  Japanese  offi- 
cers, students  and  common  people  who  were  around 
and  before  me.  Though  freely  confessing  obligation  to 
books,  writings,  and  artistic  and  scholastic  influences,  I 
hasten  first  to  thank  the  people  of  Japan,  whether  ser- 
vants, superior  officers,  neighbors  or  friends.  He  who 
seeks  to  learn  what  religion  is  from  books  only,  will 
learn  but  half. 

Gladly  thanking  those,  who,  directly  or  indirectly, 
have  helped  me  with  light  from  the  written  or  printed 
page,  I  must  first  of  all  gratefully  express  my  especial 


X  PREFACE 

obligations  to  those  native  scholars  who  have  read  to 
me,  read  for  me,  or  read  with  me  their  native  literature. 

The  first  foreign  students  of  Japanese  religions  were 
the  Dutch,  and  the  German  physicians  who  lived  with 
them,  at  Deshima.  Kaempfer  makes  frequent  refer- 
ences, with  text  and  picture,  in  his  Beschryving  van 
Japan.  Von  Siebold,  who  was  an  indefatigable  col- 
lector rather  than  a  critical  student,  in  Yol.  V.  of  his 
invaluable  Archiv  (Pantheon  von  Nippon),  devoted  over 
forty  pages  to  the  religions  of  Japan.  Dr.  J.  J.  Hoff- 
man translated  into  Dutch,  with  notes  and  explanations, 
the  Butsu-zo-dzu-i,  which,  besides  its  163  figures 
of  Buddhist  holy  men,  gives  a  bibliography  of  the 
works  mentioned  by  the  native  author.  In  visiting  the 
Japanese  museum  on  the  Eapenburg,  Leyden,  one  of 
the  oldest,  best  and  most  intelligently  arranged  in 
Europe,  I  have  been  interested  with  the  great  work 
done  by  the  Dutchmen,  during  two  centuries,  in  leav- 
ening the  old  lump  for  that  transformation  which  in 
our  day  as  New  Japan,  surprises  the  world.  It  re- 
quires the  shock  of  battle  to  awaken  the  western  na- 
tions to  that  appreciation  of  the  racial  and  other  differ- 
ences between  the  Japanese  and  Chinese,  which  the 
student  has  already  learned. 

The  first  praises,  however,  are  to  be  awarded  to  the 
English  scholars,  Messrs.  Satow,  Aston,  Chamberlain, 
and  others,  whose  profound  researches  in  Japanese  his- 
tory, language  and  literature  have  cleared  the  path  for 
others  to  tread  in.  I  have  tried  to  acknowledge  my 
debt  to  them  in  both  text  and  appendix. 

To  several  American  missionaries,  who  despite  their 
trying  labors  have  had  the  time  and  the  taste  to  study 
critically  the  religions  of  Japan,  I  owe  thanks  and  ap- 


PREFACE  xi 

preciation.  With  rare  acuteness  and  learning,  Eev.  Dr. 
George  Wm.  Knox  has  opened  on  its  philosophical,  and 
Eev.  Dr.  J.  H.  DeForest  on  its  practical  side,  the  sub- 
ject of  Japanese  Confucianism.  By  his  lexicographical 
work,  Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn  has  made  debtors  to  him 
both  the  native  and  the  alien.  To  our  knowledge  of 
Buddhism  in  Japan,  Dr.  J.  L.  Gordon  and  Eev.  J.  L.  At- 
kinson have  made  noteworthy  contributions.  I  have 
been  content  to  quote  as  authorities  and  illustrations, 
the  names  of  those  who  have  thus  wrought  on  the  soil, 
rather  than  of  those,  who,  even  though  world-famous, 
have  been  but  slightly  familiar  with  the  ethnic  and  the 
imported  faith  of  Japan.  The  profound  misunderstand- 
ings of  Buddhism,  which  some  very  eminent  men  of 
Europe  have  shown  in  their  writings,  form  one  of  the 
literary  curiosities  of  the  world. 

In  setting  forth  these  Morse  lectures,  I  have  pur- 
posely robbed  my  pages  of  all  appearance  of  erudition, 
by  using  as  few  uncouth  words  as  possible,  by  break- 
ing up  the  matter  into  paragraphs  of  moderate  length, 
by  liberally  introducing  subject-headings  in  italics,  and 
by  relegating  all  notes  to  the  appendix.  Since  writing 
the  lectures,  and  even  while  reading  the  final  proofs,  I 
have  ransacked  my  library  to  find  as  many  references, 
notes,  illustrations  and  authorities  as  possible,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  general  student.  I  have  purposely 
avoided  recondite  and  inaccessible  books  and  have 
named  those  easily  obtainable  from  American  or 
European  publishers,  or  from  Messrs.  Kelly  &  Walsh, 
of  Yokohama,  Japan.  In  using  oriental  words  I  have 
followed,  in  the  main,  the  spelling  of  the  Century  Dic- 
tionary. The  Japanese  names  are  expressed  accord- 
ing to  that  uniform  system  of  transliteration  used  by 


Xii  PREFACE 

Hepburn,  Satow  and  other  standard  writers,  wherein 
consonants  have  the  same  general  value  as  in  English 
(except  that  initial  g  is  always  hard),  while  the  vowels 
are  pronounced  as  in  Italian.  Double  vowels  must  be 
pronounced  double,  as  in  Meiji  (ma-e-je) ;  those  which 
are  long  are  marked,  as  in  6  or  u  ;  i  before  o  or  u  is 
short.  Most  of  the  important  Japanese,  as  well  as 
Sanskrit  and  Chinese,  terms  used,  are  duly  expressed 
and  defined  in  the  Century  Dictionary. 

I  wish  also  to  thank  especially  my  friends,  Eiu 
Watanabe,  Ph.D.,  of  Cornell  University,  and  William 
Nelson  Noble,  Esq.,  of  Ithaca.  The  former  kindly  as- 
sisted me  with  criticisms  and  suggestions,  while  to  the 
latter,  who  has  taken  time  to  read  all  the  proofs,  I  am 
grateful  for  considerable  improvement  in  the  English 
form  of  the  sentences. 

In  closing,  I  trust  that  whatever  charges  may  be 
brought  against  me  by  competent  critics,  lack  of  sym- 
pathy will  not  be  one.  I  write  in  sight  of  beautiful 
Lake  Cayuga,  on  the  fertile  and  sloping  shores  of 
which  in  old  time  the  Iroquois  Indian  confessed  the 
mysteries  of  life.  Having  planted  his  corn,  he  made 
his  pregnant  squaw  walk  round  the  seed-bed  in  hope 
of  receiving  from  the  Source  of  life  increased  blessing 
and  sustenance  for  body  and  mind.  Between  such  a 
truly  religious  act  of  the  savage,  and  that  of  the  Chris- 
tian sage,  Joseph  Henry,  who  uncovered  his  head 
while  investigating  electro-magnetism  to  "ask  God  a 
question,"  or  that  of  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  who  sent 
as  his  first  telegraphic  message  "What  hath  God 
wrought,"  I  see  no  essential  difference.  All  three  were 
acts  of  faith  and  acknowledgment  of  a  power  greater 
than  man.  Religion  is  one,  though  religions  are  many. 


PREFACE  xiii 

As  Principal  Fairbairn,  my  honored  predecessor  in  the 
Morse  lectureship,  says  :  "  "What  we  call  superstition 
of  the  savage  is  not  superstition  in  him.  Superstition 
is  the  perpetuation  of  a  low  form  of  belief  along  with  a 
higher  knowledge.  .  .  .  Between  fetichism  and 
Christian  faith  there  is  a  great  distance,  but  a  great  af- 
finity— the  recognition  of  a  supra-sensible  life." 

"  For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creation  waiteth 
for  the  revealing  of  the  sons  of  God  .  .  .  The 
creation  itself  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of 
corruption  into  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children 
of  God." 

W.  E.  G. 

ITHACA,  N.  Y.,  October  27,  1891 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE  I 

PAGE 

PRIMITIVE  FAITH  :  EELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS  ...  1 

Salutatory. — The  Morse  Lectureship  and  its  provisions. — The  Science  of 
Comparative  Religion  is  Christianity's  own  child. — The  Parliament  of 
Religions. — The  Study  of  Religion  most  appropriate  in  a  Theological  Sem- 
inary.— Shortening  weapons  and  lengthening  boundaries. — The  right  mis- 
sionary spirit  that  of  the  Master,  who  u  came  not  to  destroy  but  to  ful- 
fil."-Characteristics  of  Japan. — Bird's-eye  view  of  Japanese  history  and 
religion. — Popularly,  not  three  religions  but  one  religion. — Superstitions 
which  are  not  organically  parts  of  the  "book-religions." — The  boundary 
line  between  the  Creator  and  his  creation  not  visible  to  the  pagan. — 
Shamanism  :  Fetichism. — Mythical  monsters,  Kirin,  Phoenix,  Tortoise, 
Dragon.— Japanese  mythical  zoology.— The  erection  of  the  stone  fetich.— 
Insurance  by  amulets  upon  house  and  person. — Phallicism. — Tree- wor- 
ship.— Serpent-worship. — These  unwritten  superstitions  condition  the 
"  book-religions." — Removable  by  science  and  a  higher  religion. 

CHAPTEE   II 
SHINTO  :  MYTHS  AND  EITUAL 35 

Japan  is  young  beside  China  and  Korea.— Japanese  history  is  compara- 
tively modern. — The  oldest  documents  date  from  A.D.  712. — The  Japanese 
archipelago  inhabited  before  the  Christian  era.— Faith,  worship  and  ritual 
are  previous  to  written  expression. — The  Kojiki,  Manyoshu  and  Norito. — 
Tendency  of  the  pupil  nations  surrounding-  China  to  antedate  their  civili- 
zation.— Origin  of  the  Japanese  people  and  their  religion. — Three  distinct 
lines  of  tradition  from  Tsukushi,  Idzumo  and  Yamato. — War  of  the  in- 
vaders against  the  aborigines. — Mikadoism  is  the  heart  of  Shinto. — Illus- 
trations from  the  liturgies. — Phallicism  among  the  aborigines  and  common 
people. — The  mind  or  mental  climate  of  the  primaeval  man. — Representa- 


XVI  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

tion  of  male  gods  by  emblems. — Objects  of  worship  and  ex-voto. — Ideas 
of  creation. — The  fire-myth,  Prometheus. — Comparison  of  Greek  and  Jap- 
anese mythology. — Ritual  for  the  quieting  of  the  fire-god.  —The  fire-drill. 


CHAPTER  III 

PAGE 

THE  KOJIKI  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS 59 

Origin  of  the  Kojiki. — Analysis  of  its  opening  lines. — Norito. — Inde- 
cency of  the  myths  of  the  Kojiki. — Modern  rationalistic  interpretations. — 
Life  in  prehistoric  Japan. — Character  and  temperament  of  the  people  then 
and  now. — Character  of  the  kami  or  gods. — Hades. — Ethics. — The  Land 
of  the  Gods. — The  barbarism  of  the  Yamato  conquerors  an  improvement 
upon  the  savagery  of  the  aborigines. — Cannibalism  and  human  sacrifices. 
— The  makers  of  the  God-way  captured  and  absorbed  the  religion  of  the 
aborigines. — A  case  of  syncretism. — Origin  of  evil  in  bad  gods  — Pollution 
was  sin. — Class  of  offences  enumerated  in  thenorito. — Professor  Kumi's  con- 
tention that  Mikadoism  usurped  a  simple  worship  of  Heaven. — Difference 
between  the  ancient  Chinese  and  ancient  Japanese  cultus. — Development 
of  Shinto  arrested  by  Buddhism. — Temples  and  offerings. — The  tori-i. — 
Pollution  and  purification. — Prayer. — Hirata's  ordinal  and  specimen  pray- 
ers.— To  the  common  people  the  sun  is  a  god. — Prayers  to  myriads  of  gods. 
— Summary  of  Shinto. — Swallowed  up  in  the  Riyobu  system. — Its  modern 
revival. — Keichiu. — Kada  Adzumaro. — Mabuchi,  Motoori. —  Hirata. — In 
1870,  Shinto  is  again  made  the  state  religion. — Purification  of  Riyobu  tem- 
ples.— Politico-religious  lectures. — Imperial  rescript. — Reverence  to  the 
Emperor's  photograph. — Judgment  upon  Shinto. — The  Christian's  ideal  of 
Yamato-darnashii. 

CHAPTEE  IV 

THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN     ...  99 

In  what  respects  Confucius  was  unique  as  a  teacher. — Outline  of  his  life. 
— The  canon. — Primitive  Chinese  faith  a  sort  of  monotheism. — How  the 
sage  modified  it. — History  of  Confucianism  until  its  entrance  into  Japan. — 
Outline  of  the  intellectual  and  political  history  of  the  Japanese. — Rise  of 
the  Samurai  class. — Shifting  of  emphasis  from  filial  piety  to  loyalty. — Prev- 
alence of  suicide  in  Japan. — Confucianism  has  deeply  tinged  the  ideas  of 
the  Japanese. — Great  care  necessary  in  seeking  equivalents  in  English  for 
the  terms  used  in  the  Chino- Japanese  ethics  ;  e  g.,  the  emperor,  "the  father 
of  the  people." — Impersonality  of  Japanese  speech. — Christ  and  Confucius. 
— "Love"  and  u reverence." — Exemplars  of  loyalty. — The  Forty-seven 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xvii 

Ronins. — The  second  relation. — The  family  in  Chinese  Asia  and  in  Chris- 
tendom.— The  law  of  filial  piety  and  the  daughter. — The  third  relation. — 
Theory  of  courtship  and  marriage. — Chastity. — Jealousy. — Divorce. — In- 
stability of  the  marriage  bond. — The  fourth  relation. — The  elder  and  the 
younger  brother. — The  house  or  family  everything,  the  individual  nothing. 
—The  fifth  relation.— The  ideas  of  Christ  and  those  of  Confucius.— The 
Golden  and  the  Gilded  rule.— Lao  Tsze  and  Rung.— Old  Japan  and  the 
alien. — Commodore  Perry  and  Professor  Hayashi. 


CHAPTER  V 

PAGE 

CONFUCIANISM  IN  ITS  PHILOSOPHICAL  FOEM     .    .  131 

Harmony  of  the  systems  of  Confucius  and  Buddha  in  Japan  during  a 
thousand  years. — Revival  of  learning  in  the  seventeenth  century. — Exodus 
of  the  Chinese  scholars  on  the  fall  of  the  Ming  dynasty. — Their  disper- 
sion and  work  in  Japan. — Founding  of  schools  of  the  new  Chinese  learning. 
— For  two  and  a  half  centuries  the  Japanese  mind  has  been  moulded  by  the 
new  Confucianism. — Survey  of  its  rise  and  development. — Four  stages  in 
the  intellectual  history  of  China. — The  populist  movement  in  the  eleventh 
century.— The  literary  controversy.— The  philosophy  of  the  Cheng  brothers 
and  of  Chu  Hi,  called  in  Japan  Tei-Shu  system. — In  Buddhism  the  Japan- 
ese were  startling  innovators,  in  philosophy  they  were  docile  pupils. — Pau- 
city of  Confucian  or  speculative  literature  in  Japan. — A  Chinese  wall 
built  around  the  Japanese  intellect.— Yedo  orthodoxy.— Features  of  the 
Tei-Shu  system. — Not  agnostic  but  pantheistic. — Its  influence  upon  histori- 
ography.—Ki  (spirit)  Ri  (way)  and  Ten  (heaven).— The  writings  of  Ohashi 
Junzo. — Confucianism  obsolescent  in  New  Japan. — A  study  of  Confucian- 
ism in  the  interest  of  comparative  religion. — Man's  place  in  the  universe. 
— The  Samurai's  ideal,  obedience. — His  fearlessness  in  the  face  of  death. — 
Critique  of  the  system. — The  ruler  and  the  ruled. — What  has  Confucianism 
done  for  woman  ? — Improvement  and  revision  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  re- 
lations.— The  new  view  of  the  universe  and  the  new  mind  in  New  Japan. 
The  ideal  of  Yamato-damashii  revised  and  improved. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NOETHEEN  ASIA 153 

Buddha — sun  myth  or  historic  personage  ? — Buddhism  one  of  the  prot- 
estantisms of  the  world. — Characteristics  of  new  religions. — Survey  of  the 
history  of  Indian  thought. — The  age  of  the  Vedas. — The  epic  age. — The 


xviii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

rationalistic  age. — Our  fellow- Aryans  and  the  story  of  their  conquests. — 
Their  intellectual  energy  and  inventions. — Systems  of  philosophy. — Condi- 
tion of  religion  at  the  birth  of  Gautama. — Outline  of  his  life. — He  attains 
enlightenment  or  buddhahood. — In  what  respects  Buddhism  was  an  old, 
and  in  what  a  new  religion. — Did  Gautama  intend  to  found  a  new  religion, 
or  return  to  simpler  and  older  faith? — Monasticism,  Kharma  and  Nir- 
vana.— Enthusiasm  of  the  disciples  of  the  new  faith. — The  great  schism. — 
The  Northern  Buddhists. — The  canon. — The  two  Yana  or  vehicles. — Sim- 
plicity of  Southern  and  luxuriance  of  Northern  Buddhism. — Summary  of 
the  process  of  thought  in  Nepal. — The  old  gods  of  India  come  back  again. 
— Maitreya,  Manjusri  and  Avalokitesvara. — The  legend  of  Manjusri. — 
Separation  of  attributes  and  creation  of  new  Buddhas  or  gods. — The 
Dhyani  Buddhas. — Amida. — Adi-Buddhas. — Abstractions  become  gods. — 
The  Tantra  system. — Outbursts  of  doctrine  and  art. — Prayer-mills. — The 
noble  eight-fold  path  of  self-denial  and  benevolence  forgotten. — Entrance 
of  Buddhism  from  Korea  into  Japan. — Condition  of  the  country  at  that 
time. — Dates  and  first  experiences. — Soga  no  Iname. — Shotoku. — Japanese 
pilgrims  to  China. — Changes  wrought  by  the  new  creed  and  cult. — Temples, 
monasteries  and  images. — Influence  upon  the  Mikado's  name,  rank  and 
person,  and  upon  Shinto. — Relative  influence  of  Buddhism  in  Asia  and  of 
Christianity  in  Europe. — The  three  great  characteristics  of  Buddhism. — 
How  the  clouds  returned  after  the  rain. — Buddhism  and  Christianity  con- 
fronting the  problem  of  life. 


CHAPTEK  VII 

PAGE 

RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM 189 

The  experience  of  two  centuries  and  a  half  of  Buddhism  in  Japan. — 
Necessity  of  using  more  powerful  means  for  the  conversion  of  the  Japan- 
ese.— Popular  customs  nearly  ineradicable. — Analogy  from  European  his- 
tory.— Syncretism  in  Christian  history. — In  the  Arabian  Nights. — How  far 
is  the  process  of  Syncretism  honest  ? — Examples  not  to  be  recommended 
for  imitation. — The  problem  of  reconciling  the  Kami  and  the  Buddhas. — 
Northern  Buddhism  ready  for  the  task. — The  Tantra  or  Yoga-chara  sys- 
tem.— Art  and  its  influence  on  the  imagination. — The  sketch  replaced  by 
the  illumination  and  monochrome  by  colors. — Japanese  art. — Mixed 
Buddhism  rather  than  mixed  Shinto. — Kobo  the  wonder-worker  who  made 
all  Japanese  history  a  transfiguration  of  Buddhism. — Legends  about  his 
extraordinary  abilities  and  industry. — His  life,  and  studies  in  China. — The 
kata-kana  syllabary. — Kobe's  revelation  from  the  Shinto  goddess  Toyo- 
Uke-Bime. — The  gods  of  Japan  were  avatars  of  Buddha. — Kobo's  plan  of 
propaganda. — Details  of  the  scheme. — A  clearing-house  of  gods  and 
Buddhas.— Relative  rise  and  fall  of  the  native  and  the  foreign  deities.— 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xix 

Legend  of  Daruma.  "  Riyobu  Shinto. " — Impulse  to  art  and  art  industry. 
— The  Kami  no  Michi  falls  into  shadow. — Which  religion  suffered  most  ? — 
Phenomenally  the  victory  belonged  to  Buddhism. — The  leavening  power 
was  that  of  Shinto. — Buddhism's  fresh  chapter  of  decay. — Influence  of 
Riyobu  upon  the  Chinese  ethical  system  in  Japan. — Influence  on  the  Mi- 
kado.— Abdication  all  along  the  lines  of  Japanese  life. — Ultimate  paraly- 
sis of  the  national  intellect.— Comparison  with  Chinese  Buddhism. — Mir- 
acle-mongering. — No  self -reforming  power  in  Buddhism. — The  Seven 
Happy  Gods  of  Fortune. — Pantheism's  destruction  of  boundaries. — The 
author's  study  of  the  popular  processions  in  Japan. — Masaka  Do. — Swamp- 
ing of  history  in  legend. — The  jewel  in  the  lotus. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PAGE 

NORTHERN    BUDDHISM    IN   ITS   DOCTRINAL   EVO- 
LUTIONS      225 

Four  stages  of  the  doctrinal  development  of  Buddhism  in  Japan. — Rea- 
sons for  the  formation  of  sects.— The  SaddharmaPundarika. — Shastras  and 
Sutras. — The  Ku-sha  sect. — Book  of  the  Treasury  of  Metaphysics. — The 
Jo-jitsu  sect,  its  founder  and  its  doctrines. — The  Ris-shu  or  Viyana  sect. 
— Japanese  pilgrims  to  China. — The  Hos-so  sect  and  its  doctrines. — The 
three  grades  of  disciples. — The  San-ron  or  Three-shastra  sect  and  its  ten- 
ets.—The  Middle  Path.— The  Ke'gon  sect.— The  Unconditioned,  or  realis- 
tic pantheism. — The  Chinese  or  Tendai  sect. — Its  scriptures  and  dogmas. — 
Buddhahood  attainable  in  the  present  body. — Vagradrodhi. — The  Yoga- 
chara  system. — The  "  old  sects." — Reaction  against  excessive  idol-making. 
— The  Zen  sect. — Labor-saving  devices  in  Buddhism. — Making  truth  ap- 
parent by  one's  own  thought — Transmission  of  the  Zen  doctrine. — History 
of  Zen  Shu. 

CHAPTER   IX 
THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE 257 

The  Jo-do  or  Pure  Land  sect. — Substitution  of  faith  in  Amida  for  the 
eight-fold  Path. — Succession  of  the  propagators  of  true  doctrine. — Zendo 
and  Ho-nen. — The  Japanese  path-finder  to  the  Pure  Land. — Doctrine  of 
Jo-do. — Buddhistic  influence  on  the  Japanese  language. — Incessant  repeti- 
tion of  prayers.— The  Pure  Land  in  the  West.— The  Buddhist  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith. — Ho-nen's  universalism. — Tendency  of  doctrinal  de- 
velopment after  Ho-nen. — u  Reformed  "  Buddhism.  — Synergism  versus  sal- 
vation by  faith  only. — Life  of  Shinran. — Posthumous  honors. — Policy  and 
aim  of  the  Shin  sect,  methods  and  scriptures. 


XX  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X 

PAGE 

JAPANESE  BUDDHISM  IN  ITS  MISSIONARY  DEVEL- 
OPMENT     287 

The  missionary  history  of  Japanese  Buddhism  is  the  history  of  Japan. — 
The  first  organized  religion  of  the  Japanese. — Professor  Basil  Hall  Cham- 
berlain's testimony. — A  picture  of  primeval  life  in  the  archipelago. — What 
came  in  the  train  of  the  new  religion  from  "  the  West." — Missionary  civil- 
izers,  teachers,  road-makers,  improvers  of  diet. — Language  of  flowers  and 
gardens. — The  house  and  home. — Architecture. — The  imperial  capital. — 
Hiyeizan. — Love  of  natural  scenery. — Pilgrimages  and  their  fruits. — The 
Japanese  aesthetic. — Art  and  decoration  in  the  temples. — Exterior  resem- 
blances between  the  Roman  form  of  Christianity  and  of  Buddhism. — Quo- 
tation from  "The  Mikado's  Em  pure." — Internal  vital  differences. — Enlight- 
enment and  grace. — Ingwa  and  love. — Luxuriance  of  the  art  of  Northern 
Buddhism. — Variety  in  individual  treatment. — Place  of  the  temple  in  the 
life  of  Old  Japan.— The  protecting  trees.— The  bell  and  its  note.— The 
graveyard  and  the  priests'  hold  upon  it. — Japanese  Buddhism  as  a  political 
power. — Its  influence  upon  military  history. — Abbots  on  horseback  and 
monks  in  armor. — Battles  between  the  Shin  and  Zen  sects. — Nobunaga. — 
Influence  of  Buddhism  in  literature  and  education. — The  temple  school. — 
The  kana  writing. — Survey  and  critique  of  Buddhist  history  in  Japan. — 
Absence  of  organized  charities. — Regard  for  animal  and  disregard  for 
human  life.— The  Eta.— The  Aino. — Attitude  to  women. — Nuns  and  nun- 
neries.—Polygamy  and  concubinage.— Buddhism  compared  with  Shinto.— 
Influence  upon  morals. — The  First  Cause. — Its  leadership  among  the  sects. 
— Unreality  of  Amida  Buddha. — Nichiren. — His  life  and  opinions. — Idols 
and  avatars. — The  favorite  scripture  of  the  sect,  the  Saddharma  Pun- 
darika. — Its  central  dogma,  everything  in  the  universe  capable  of  Buddha- 
ship. — The  Salvation  Army  of  Buddhism. — Kobo's  leaven  working. — 
Buddhism  ceases  to  be  an  intellectual  force. — The  New  Buddhism. — Are 
the  Japanese  eager  for  reform  ? 

CHAPTER  XI 

ROMAN    CHEISTIANITY     IN     THE     SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY 323 

The  many-sided  story  of  Japanese  Christianity. — One  hundred  years  of 
intercourse  between  Japan  and  Europe.  — State  of  Japan  at  the  introduction 
of  Portuguese  Christianity. — Xavier  and  Anjiro. — Xavier  at  Kioto  and  in 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xxi 

Bungo. — Nobunaga  and  the  Buddhists. — High- water  mark  of  Christianity. 
— Hideyoshi  and  the  invasion  of  Korea. — Kato  and  Konishi. — Persecutions. 
— Arrival  of  the  Spanish  friars. — Their  violation  of  good  faith. — Spirit  of 
the  Jesuits  and  Franciscans. — Crucifixion  on  the  bamboo  cross.. — Hide- 
yori. — Kato  Kiy omasa. — The  Dutch  in  the  Eastern  seas. — Will  Adams. — 
lyeyasu  suspects  designs  against  the  sovereignty  of  Japan. — The  Christian 
religion  outlawed. — Hide'tada  follows  up  the  policy  of  lyeyasu,  excludes 
aliens,  and  shuts  up  the  country. — The  uprising  of  the  Christians  at  Shima- 
bara  in  1637. — Christianity  buried  from  sight. — Character  of  the  mission- 
aries and  the  form  of  the  faith  introduced  by  them. — Noble  lives  and 
ideals.— The  spirit  of  the  Inquisition  in  Japan.— Political  animus  and 
complexion. 


CHAPTER  XII 
Two  CENTUBIES  OF  SILENCE 351 

Policy  of  the  Japanese  government  after  the  suppression  of  Christianity. 
— Insulation  of  Japan. — The  Hollanders  at  Deshima. — Withdrawal  of  the 
English. — Relations  with  Korea. — Policy  of  inclusion. — "  A  society  im- 
pervious to  foreign  ideas." — Life  within  stunted  limits. — Canons  of  art  and 
literature. — Philosophy  made  an  engine  of  government. — Esoteric  law. — 
Social  waste  of  humanity. — Attempts  to  break  down  the  wall — external 
and  internal. — Seekers  after  God.— The  goal  of  the  pilgrims. — The  De'- 
shima  Dutchman  as  pictured  by  enemies  and  rivals,  versus  reality  and 
truth. — Eager  spirits  groping  after  God. — Morning  stars  of  the  Japanese 
reformation.— YoMo  Heishiro.— The  anti-Christian  edicts.— The  Buddhist 
Inquisitors. — The  Shin-gaku  or  New  Learning  movement. — The  story  of 
nineteenth  century  Christianity,  subterranean  and  interior  before  being 
phenomenal.— Sabbath-day  service  on  the  U.  S.  S.S.  Mississippi.— The 
first  missionaries. — Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn. — Healing  and  the  Bible. — Yedo 
becomes  Tokio.— Despatch  of  the  Embassy  round  the  world.— Eyes 
opened.— The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  Japan. 

NOTES,  AUTHOEITIES  AND  ILLUSTEATIONS    .    .    .375 
INDEX  .  .....  451 


PKIMITIYE    FAITH:   KELIGTON    BEFOEE 
BOOKS 


"  The  investigation  of  the  beginnings  of  a  religion  is  never  the  work  of 
infidels,  but  of  the  most  reverent  and  conscientious  minds." 

"We,  the  forty  million  souls  of  Japan,  standing  firmly  and  persistently 
upon  the  basis  of  international  justice,  await  still  further  manifestations 
as  to  the  morality  of  Christianity.1' — Hiraii,  of  Japan. 

"When  the  Creator  [through  intermediaries  that  were  apparently  ani- 
mals] had  finished  creating  this  world  of  men,  the  good  and  the  bad  Gods 
were  all  mixed  together  promiscuously,  and  began  disputing  for  the  posses- 
sion of  this  world." — The  Aino  Story  of  the  Creation. 

"  If  the  Japanese  have  few  beast  stories,  the  Ainos  have  apparently 
no  popular  tales  of  heroes  .  .  .  The  Aino  mythologies  .  .  .  lack 
all  connection  with  morality.  .  .  .  Both  lack  priests  and  prophets. 
.  .  .  Both  belong  to  a  very  primitive  stage  of  mental  development. 
.  .  .  Excepting  stories  .  .  .  and  a  few  almost  metreless  songs,  the 
Ainos  have  no  other  literature  at  all." — Aino  Studies. 

"  I  asked  the  earth,  and  it  answered,  1 1  am  not  He  ;  '  and  whatsoever 
are  therein  made  the  same  confession.  I  asked  the  sea  and  the  deep  and 
the  creeping  things  that  lived,  and  they  replied,  'We  are  not  thy  God; 
seek  higher  than  we.'  .  .  .  And  I  answered  unto  all  things  which  stand 
about  the  door  of  my  flesh,  '  Ye  have  told  me  concerning  my  God,  that  ye 
are  not  he  ;  tell  me  something  about  him.'  And  with  a  loud  voice  they  ex- 
claimed, '  It  is  He  who  hath  made  us  ! '  " — Augustine's  Confessions. 

"  Seek  Him  that  maketh  the  seven  stars  and  Orion,  and  turneth  the 
shadow  of  death  into  the  morning,  and  maketh  the  day  dark  with  night ; 
that  calleth  for  the  waters  of  the  sea,  and  poureth  them  out  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth  :  The  LORD  is  his  name." — Amos. 

" That  which  hath  been  made  was  life  in  Him."— John. 


CHAPTEE 

PRIMITIVE    FAITH 


Morse  Lectureship  and  the  Study  of  Comparative 
Religion 

As  a  graduate  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  in  the  Class  of  1877,  your  ser- 
vant received  and  accepted  with  pleasure  the  invitation 
of  the  President  and  Board  of  Trustees  to  deliver  a 
course  of  lectures  upon  the  religions  of  Japan.  In  that 
country  and  in  several  parts  of  it,  I  lived  from  1870 
to  1874.  I  was  in  the  service  first  of  the  feudal  daimio 
of  Echizen  and  then  of  the  national  government  of 
Japan,  helping  to  introduce  that  system  of  public 
schools  which  is  now  the  glory  of  the  countiy.  Those 
four  years  gave  me  opportunities  for  close  and  constant 
observation  of  the  outward  side  of  the  religions  of 
Japan,  and  facilities  for  the  study  of  the  ideas  out  of 
which  worship  springs.  Since  1867,  however,  when 
first  as  a  student  in  Rutgers  College  at  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  I  met  and  instructed  those  students  from  the  far 
East,  who,  at  risk  of  imprisonment  and  death  had  come 
to  America  for  the  culture  of  Christendom,  I  have  been 
deeply  interested  in  the  study  of  the  Japanese  people 
and  their  thoughts. 

To  attempt  a  just  and  impartial  survey  of  the  relig- 
ions of  Japan  may  seem  a  task  that  might  well  appall 


4  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

even  a  life-long  Oriental  scholar.  Yet  it  may  be  that 
an  honest  purpose,  a  deep  sympathy  and  a  gladly 
avowed  desire  to  help  the  East  and  the  West,  the  Jap- 
anese and  the  English-speaking  people,  to  understand 
each  other,  are  not  wholly  useless  in  a  study  of  religion, 
but  for  our  purposed  real  value.  These  lectures  are 
'ctpOTi  the:  Moi&te"1  found'afejon  which  has  these  specifica- 
tions written  out"  By  'the  founder : 

The  general  subject  of  the  lectures  I  desire  to  be  :  "  The  Ee- 
lation  of  the  Bible  to  any  of  the  Sciences,  as  Geography,  Geol- 
ogy, History,  and  Ethnology,  .  .  .  and  the  relation  of  the 
facts  and  truths  contained  in  the  Word  of  God,  to  the  principles, 
methods,  and  aims  of  any  of  the  sciences." 

Now,  among  the  sciences  which  we  must  call  to  our 
aid  are  those  of  geography  and  geology,  by  which  are 
conditioned  history  and  ethnology  of  which  we  must 
largely  treat ;  and,  most  of  all,  the  science  of  Compara- 
tive Religion. 

This  last  is  Christianity's  own  child.  Other  sciences, 
such  as  geography  and  astronomy,  may  have  been  born 
among  lands  and  nations  outside  of  and  even  before 
Christendom.  Other  sciences,  such  as  geology,  may 
have  had  their  rise  in  Christian  time  and  in  Christian 
lands,  their  foundation  lines  laid  and  their  main  proc- 
esses illustrated  by  Christian  men,  which  yet  cannot 
be  claimed  by  Christianity  as  her  children  bearing  her 
own  likeness  and  image  ;  but  the  science  of  Compara- 
tive Religion  is  the  direct  offspring  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus.  It  is  a  distinctively  Christian  science.  "  It  is 
so  because  it  is  a  product  of  Christian  civilization,  and 
because  it  finds  its  impulse  in  that  freedom  of  inquiry 
which  Christianity  fosters." 2  Christian  scholars  began 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     5 

the  investigations,  formulated  the  principles,  collected 
the  materials  and  reared  the  already  splendid  fabric  of 
the  science  of  Comparative  Keligion,  because  the  spirit 
of  Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify  this.  Jesus 
bade  his  disciples  search,  inquire,  discern  and  compare. 
Paul,  the  greatest  of  the  apostolic  Christian  college, 
taught :  "  Prove  all  things ;  hold  fast  that  which  is 
good."  In  our  day  one  of  Christ's  loving  followers 3 
expressed  the  spirit  of  her  Master  in  her  favorite  motto, 
"Truth  for  authority,  not  authority  for  truth."  Well 
says  Dr.  James  Legge,  a  prince  among  scholars,  and 
translator  of  the  Chinese  classics,  who  has  added  sev- 
eral portly  volumes  to  Professor  Max  Miiller's  series  of 
the  "  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  whose  face  to-day  is 
bronzed  and  whose  hair  is  whitened  by  fifty  years  of 
service  in  southern  China  where  with  his  own  hands 
he  baptized  six  hundred  Chinamen  : 4 

The  more  that  a  man  possesses  the  Christian  spirit,  and  is 
governed  by  Christian  principle,  the  more  anxious  will  he  be  to 
do  justice  to  every  other  system  of  religion,  and  to  hold  his 
own  without  taint  or  fetter  of  bigotry.5 

It  was  Christianity  that,  in  a  country  where  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  has  fullest  liberty,  called  the  Parliament 
of  Religions,  and  this  for  reasons  clearly  manifest. 
Only  Christians  had  and  have  the  requisites  of  success, 
viz. :  sufficient  interest  in  other  men  and  religions  ;  the 
necessary  unity  of  faith  and  purpose  ;  and  above  all,  the 
brave  and  bold  disregard  of  the  consequences.  Chris- 
tianity calls  the  Parliament  of  Religions,  following  out 
the  Divine  audacity  of  Him  who,  so  often,  confronting 
worldly  wisdom  and  priestly  cunning,  said  to  his  dis- 
ciples, "  Think  not,  be  not  anxious,  take  no  heed,  be 


6  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

careful  for  nothing — only  for  love  and  truth.  I  am  not 
come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil." 

Of  all  places  therefore,  the  study  of  comparative  re- 
ligion is  most  appropriate  in  a  Christian  theological 
seminary.  We  must  know  how  our  fellow-men  think 
and  believe,  in  order  to  help  them.  It  is  our  duty  to 
discover  the  pathways  of  approach  to  their  minds 
and  hearts.  We  must  show  them,  as  our  brethren  and 
children  of  the  same  Heavenly  Father,  the  common 
ground  on  which  we  all  stand.  We  must  point  them 
to  the  greater  truth  in  the  Bible  and  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  demonstrate  wherein  both  the  divinely  inspired 
library  and  the  truth  written  in  a  divine-human  life 
fulfil  that  which  is  lacking  in  their  books  and  masters. 

To  know  just  how  to  do  this  is  knowledge  to  be  cov- 
eted as  a  most  excellent  gift.  An  understanding  of 
the  religion  of  our  fellow-men  is  good,  both  for  him  who 
goes  as  a  missionary  and  for  him  who  at  home  prays, 
"  Thy  kingdom  come." 

The  theological  seminary,  which  begins  the  system- 
atic and  sympathetic  study  of  Comparative  Religion 
and  fills  the  chair  with  a  professor  who  has  a  vital  as 
well  as  academic  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  fellow- 
men  who  as  yet  know  not  Jesus  as  Christ  and  Lord,  is 
sure  to  lead  in  effective  missionary  work.  The  students 
thus  equipped  will  be  furnished  as  none  others  are,  to 
begin  at  once  the  campaign  of  help  and  warfare  of 
love. 

It  may  be  that  insight  into  and  sympathy  with  the 
struggles  of  men  who  are  groping  after  God,  if  haply 
they  may  find  him,  will  shorten  the  polemic  sword  of 
the  professional  converter  whose  only  purpose  is  de- 
structive hostility  without  tactics  or  strategy,  or  whose 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     7 

chief  idea  of  missionary  success  is  in  statistics,  in 
blackening  the  character  of  "  the  heathen,"  in  sensa- 
tional letters  for  home  consumption  and  reports  prop- 
erly cooked  and  served  for  the  secretarial  and  sectarian 
palates.  Yet,  if  true  in  history,  Greek,  Roman,  Japanese, 
it  is  also  true  in  the  missionary  wars,  that  "  the  race 
that  shortens  its  weapons  lengthens  its  boundaries." 6 

Apart  from  the  wit  or  the  measure  of  truth  in  this 
sentence  quoted,  it  is  a  matter  of  truth  in  the  general- 
izations of  fact  that  the  figure  of  the  "  sword  of  the 
spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God,"  used  by  Paul,  and 
also  the  figure  of  the  "  word  of  God,  living  and  active, 
sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  and  piercing  even 
to  the  dividing  of  the  soul  and  spirit,  of  both  joints  and 
marrow,  and  quick  to  discern  the  thoughts  and  intents 
of  the  heart,"  of  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews,  had  for 
their  original  in  iron  the  victorious  gladium  of  the  Eo- 
man legionary — a  weapon  both  short  and  sharp.  We 
may  learn  from  this  substance  of  fact  behind  the  shad- 
ow of  the  figure  a  lesson  for  our  instant  application. 
The  disciplined  Romans  scorned  the  long  blades  of  the 
barbarians,  whose  valor  so  often  impetuous  was  also 
impotent  against  discipline.  The  Romans  measured 
their  blades  by  inches,  not  by  feet.  For  ages  the  Jap- 
anese sword  has  been  famed  for  its  temper  more  than 
its  weight.7  The  Christian  entering  upon  his  Master's 
campaigns  with  as  little  impediments  of  sectarian  dog- 
ma as  possible,  should  select  a  weapon  that  is  short, 
sure  and  divinely  tempered. 

To  know  exactly  the  defects  of  the  religion  we  seek 
to  abolish,  modify,  supplement,  supplant  or  fulfil, 
means  wise  economy  of  force.  To  get  at  the  secrets  of 
its  hold  upon  the  people  we  hope  to  convert  leads  to  a 


8  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

right  use  of  power.  In  a  word,  knowledge  of  the  op- 
posing religion,  and  especially  of  alien  language,  litera- 
ture and  ways  of  feeling  and  thinking,  lengthens  mis- 
sionary life.  A  man  who  does  not  know  the  moulds  of 
thought  of  his  hearers  is  like  a  swordsman  trying  to 
fight  at  long  range  but  only  beating  the  air.  Armed 
with  knowledge  and  sympathy,  the  missionary  smites 
with  effect  at  close  quarters.  He  knows  the  vital 
spots. 

Let  me  fortify  my  own  convictions  and  conclude  this 
preliminary  part  of  my  lectures  by  quoting  again,  not 
from  academic  authorities,  but  from  active  missionaries 
who  are  or  have  been  at  the  front  and  in  the  field. 8 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Beal,  author  of  "  Buddhism  in 
China,"  said  (p.  19)  that  "  it  was  plain  to  him  that  no 
real  work  could  be  done  among  the  people  [of  China 
and  Japan]  by  missionaries  until  the  system  of  their 
belief  was  understood." 

The  Rev.  James  MacDonald,  a  veteran  missionary  in 
Africa,  in  the  concluding  chapter  of  his  very  able  work 
on  "  Religion  and  Myth,"  says  : 

The  Church  that  first  adopts  for  her  intending  missionaries 
the  study  of  Comparative  Religion  as  a  substitute  for  subjects 
now  taught  will  lead  the  van  in  the  path  of  true  progress. 

The  People  of  Japan. 

In  this  faith  then,  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who  said,  "  I 
come  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil,"  let  us  cast  our  eyes 
upon  that  part  of  the  world  where  lies  the  empire  of 
Japan  with  its  forty-one  millions  of  souls.  Here  Ave 
have  not  a  country  like  India — a  vast  conglomeration 
of  nations,  languages  and  religions  occupying  a  penin- 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     9 

sula  itself  like  a  continent,  whose  history  consists  of  a 
stratification  of  many  civilizations.  Nor  have  we  here 
a  seemingly  inert  mass  of  humanity  in  a  political 
structure  blending  democracy  and  imperialism,  as  in 
China,  so  great  in  age,  area  and  numbers  as  to  weary 
the  imagination  that  strives  to  grasp  the  details.  On 
the  contrary,  in  Dai  Nippon,  or  Great  Land  of  the 
Sun's  Origin,  we  have  a  little  country  easy  of  study. 
In  geology  it  is  one  of  the  youngest  of  lands.  Its 
known  history  is  comparatively  modern.  Its  area 
roughly  reckoned  as  150,000  square  miles,  is  about  that 
of  our  Dakotas  or  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The 
census  completed  December  31,  1892,  illustrates  here, 
as  all  over  the  world,  nature's  argument  against  polyg- 
amy. It  tells  us  that  the  relation  between  the  sexes  is, 
numerically  at  least,  normal.  There  were  20,752,366 
males  and  20,337,574  females,  making  a  population  of 
41,089,940  souls.  All  these  people  are  subjects  of  the 
one  emperor,  and  excepting  fewer  than  twenty  thousand 
savages  in  the  northern  islands  called  Ainos,  speak  one 
language  and  form  substantially  one  race.  Even  the 
Riu  Kiu  islanders  are  Japanese  in  language,  customs 
and  religion.  In  a  word,  except  in  minor  differences 
appreciable  or  at  least  important  only  to  the  special 
student,  the  modern  Japanese  are  a  homogeneous  peo- 
ple. 

In  origin  and  formation,  this  people  is  a  composite 
of  many  tribes.  Eoughly  outlining  the  ethnology  of 
Japan,  we  should  say  that  the  aborigines  were  immi- 
grants from  the  continent  with  Malay  reinforcement  in 
the  south,  Koreans  in  the  centre,  and  Ainos  in  the 
east  and  north,  with  occasional  strains  of  blood  at  dif- 
ferent periods  from  various  parts  of  the  Asian  main- 


10  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

land.  In  brief,  the  Japanese  are  a  very  mixed  race. 
Authentic  history  before  the  Christian  era  is  unknown. 
At  some  point  of  time,  probably  later  than  A.D.  200,  a 
conquering  tribe,  one  of  many  from  the  Asian  main- 
land, began  to  be  paramount  on  the  main  island. 
About  the  fourth  century  something  like  historic 
events  and  personages  begin  to  be  visible,  but  no  Jap- 
anese writings  are  older  than  the  early  part  of  the 
eighth  century,  though  almanacs  and  means  of  measur- 
ing time  are  found  in  the  sixth  century.  Whatever 
Japan  may  be  in  legend  and  mythology,  she  is  in  fact 
and  in  history  younger  than  Christianity.  Her  line  of 
rulers,  as  alleged  in  old  official  documents  and  ostenta- 
tiously reaffirmed  in  the  first  article  of  the  constitution 
of  1889,  to  be  "unbroken  for  ages  eternal,"  is  no  older 
than  that  of  the  popes.  Let  us  not  think  of  Aryan  or 
Chinese  antiquity  when  we  talk  of  Japan.  Her  his- 
tory as  a  state  began  when  the  Eoman  empire  fell. 
The  Germanic  nations  emerged  into  history  long  be- 
fore the  Japanese. 

Roughly  outlining  the  political  and  religious  life  of 
the  ancient  Japanese,  we  note  that  their  first  system 
of  government  was  a  rude  sort  of  feudalism  imposed 
by  the  conquerors  and  was  synchronous  with  aborig- 
inal fetichism,  nature  worship,  ancestral  sacrifices,  sun- 
worship  and  possibly  but  not  probably,  a  very  rude 
sort  of  monotheism  akin  to  the  primitive  Chinese  cult- 
us.9  Almost  contemporary  with  Buddhism,  its  intro- 
duction and  missionary  development,  was  the  struggle 
for  centralized  imperialism  borrowed  from  the  Chinese 
and  consolidated  in  the  period  from  the  seventh  to  the 
twelfth  century.  During  most  of  this  time  Shinto,  or 
the  primitive  religion,  was  overshadowed  while  the 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     11 

Confucian  ethics  were  taught.  From  the  twelfth  to 
this  nineteenth  century  feudalism  in  politics  and 
Buddhism  in  religion  prevailed,  though  Confucianism 
furnished  the  social  laws  or  rules  of  daily  conduct. 
Since  the  epochal  year  of  1868,  with  imperialism  re- 
established and  the  feudal  system  abolished,  Shinto 
has  had  a  visible  revival,  being  kept  alive  by  govern- 
ment patronage.  Buddhism,  though  politically  dises- 
tablished, is  still  the  popular  religion  with  recent  in- 
crease of  life,10  while  Confucianism  is  decidedly  losing 
force.  Christianity  has  begun  its  promising  career. 

The  Amalgam  of  Religions. 

Yet  in  the  imperial  and  constitutional  Japan  of  our 
day  it  is  still  true  of  probably  at  least  thirty-eight 
millions  of  Japanese  that  their  religion  is  not  one, 
Shinto,  Confucianism  or  Buddhism,  but  an  amalgam 
of  all  three.  There  is  not  in  every-day  life  that  sharp 
distinction  between  these  religions  which  the  native 
or  foreign  scholar  makes,  and  which  both  history  and 
philosophy  demand  shall  be  made  for  the  student  at 
least.  Using  the  technical  language  of  Christian  theo- 
logians, Shinto  furnishes  theology,  Confucianism  an- 
thropology and  Buddhism  soteriology.  The  average 
Japanese  learns  about  the  gods  and  draws  inspiration 
for  his  patriotism  from  Shinto,  maxims  for  his  ethical 
and  social  life  from  Confucius,  and  his  hope  of  what 
he  regards  as  salvation  from  Buddhism.  Or,  as  a 
native  scholar,  Nobuta  Kishimoto,11  expresses  it, 

In  Japan  these  three  different  systems  of  religion  and  mo- 
rality are  not  only  living  together  on  friendly  terms  with  one 
another,  but,  in  fact,  they  are  blended  together  in  the  minds 


12  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  the  people,  who  draw  necessary  nourishment  from  all  of  these 
sources.  One  and  the  same  Japanese  is  both  a  Shintoist,  a 
Confucianist,  and  a  Buddhist.  He  plays  a  triple  part,  so  to 
speak.  .  .  .  Our  religion  may  be  likened  to  a  triangle. 
.  .  .  Shintoism  furnishes  the  object,  Confucianism  offers 
the  rules  of  life,  while  Buddhism  supplies  the  way  of  salvation  ; 
so  you  see  we  Japanese  are  eclectic  in  everything,  even  in  re- 
ligion. 

These  three  religious  systems  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted, are  "book  religions."  They  rest,  respective- 
ly, upon  the  Kojiki  and  other  ancient  Japanese  litera- 
ture and  the  modern  commentators ;  upon  the  Chinese 
classics  edited  and  commented  on  by  Confucius  and 
upon  Chu  Hi  and  other  mediaeval  scholastics  who 
commented  upon  Confucius;  and  upon  the  shastras 
and  sutras  with  which  Gautama,  the  Buddha,  had 
something  to  do.  Yet  in  primeval  and  prehistoric 
Nippon  neither  these  books  nor  the  religions  growing 
out  of  the  books  were  extant.  Furthermore,  strictly 
speaking,  it  is  not  with  any  or  all  of  these  three  relig- 
ions that  the  Christian  missionary  conies  first,  oftenest 
or  longest  in  contact.  In  ancient,  in  medieval,  and  in 
modern  times  the  student  notices  a  great  undergrowth 
of  superstition  clinging  parasitically  to  all  religions, 
though  formally  recognized  by  none.  Whether  we  call 
it  fetichism,  shamanism,  nature  worship  or  heathen- 
ism in  its  myriad  forms,  it  is  there  in  awful  reality. 
It  is  as  omnipresent,  as  persistent,  as  hard  to  kill  as 
the  scrub  bamboo  which  both  efficiently  and  suffi- 
ciently takes  the  place  of  thorns  and  thistles  as  the 
curse  of  Japanese  ground. 

The  book-religions  can  be  more  or  less  apprehend- 
ed by  those  alien  to  them,  but  to  fully  appreciate  the 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     13 

depth,  extent,  influence  and  tenacity  of  these  archaic, 
unwritten  and  unformulated  beliefs  requires  residence 
upon  the  soil  and  life  among  the  devotees.  Disowned  it 
may  be  by  the  priests  and  sages,  indignantly  disclaimed 
or  secretly  approved  in  part  by  the  organized  relig- 
ions, this  great  undergrowth  of  superstition  is  as  ap- 
parent as  the  silicious  bamboo  grass  which  everywhere 
conditions  and  modifies  Japanese  agriculture.  Such 
prevalence  of  mental  and  spiritual  disease  is  the  sad 
fact  that  confronts  every  lover  of  his  fellow-men.  This 
paganism  is  more  ancient  and  universal  than  any  one 
of  the  religions  founded  on  writing  or  teachers  of  name 
and  fame.  Even  the  applied  science  and  the  wonder- 
ful inventions  imported  from  the  West,  so  far  from 
eradicating  it,  only  serve  as  the  iron -clad  man-of- 
war  in  warm  salt  water  serves  the  barnacles,  furnish- 
ing them  food  and  hold. 

We  propose  to  give  in  this  our  first  lecture,  a  gen- 
eral or  bird's-eye  view  of  this  dead  level  of  paganism 
above  which  the  systems  of  Shinto,  Confucianism  and 
Buddhism  tower  like  mountains.  It  is  by  this  omni- 
present superstition  that  the  respectable  religions  have 
been  conditioned  in  their  history  and  are  modified  at 
present,  even  as  Christianity  has  been  influenced  in  its 
progress  by  ethnic  or  local  ideas  and  temperaments, 
and  will  be  yet  in  its  course  of  victory  in  the  Mikado's 
empire. 

Just  as  the  terms  "  heathen  "  (happily  no  longer,  in 
the  Kevised  Version  of  the  English  Bible)  and  "pa- 
gan "  suggest  the  heath-man  of  Northern  Europe  and 
the  isolated  hamlet  of  the  Eoman  empire,  while  the 
cities  were  illuminated  with  Christian  truth,  so,  ip. 
the  main,  the  matted  superstitions  of  Chinese  Asia  are 


14  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

more  suggestive  of  distances  from  books  and  centres 
of  knowledge,  though  still  sufficiently  rooted  in  the 
crowded  cities. 

One  to  whom  the  boundary  line  between  the  Creator 
and  his  world  is  perfectly  clear,  one  who  knows  the 
eternal  difference  between  mind  and  matter,  one  born 
amid  the  triumphs  of  science  can  but  faintly  realize 
the  mental  condition  of  the  millions  of  Japan  to  whom 
there  is  no  unifying  thought  of  the  Creator-Father. 
Faith  in  the  unity  of  law  is  the  foundation  of  all 
science,  but  the  average  Asiatic  has  not  this  thought 
or  faith.  Appalled  at  his  own  insignificance  amid  the 
sublime  mysteries  and  awful  immensities  of  nature,  the 
shadows  of  his  own  mind  become  to  him  real  exist- 
ences. As  it  is  affirmed  that  the  human  skin,  sensi- 
tive to  the  effects  of  light,  takes  the  photograph  of  the 
tree  riven  by  lightning,  so,  on  the  pagan  mind  lie  in 
ineffaceable  and  exaggerated  grotesqueness  the  scars 
of  impressions  left  by  hereditary  teaching,  by  natural 
phenomena  and  by  the  memory  of  events  and  of  land- 
marks. Out  of  the  soil  of  diseased  imagination  has 
sprung  up  a  growth  as  terrible  as  the  drunkard's  phan- 
tasies. The  earthquake,  flood,  tidal  wave,  famine, 
withering  or  devastating  wind  and  poisonous  gases, 
the  geological  monsters  and  ravening  bird,  beast  and 
fish,  have  their  representatives  or  supposed  incarna- 
tions in  mythical  phantasms. 

Frightful  as  these  shadows  of  the  mind  appear,  they 
are  both  very  real  and,  in  a  sense,  very  necessary  to 
the  ignorant  man.  He  must  have  some  theory  by 
which  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  nature  and  soothe 
his  own  terrors.  Hence  he  peoples  the  earth  and 
water,  not  only  with  invisible  spirits  more  or  less  ma- 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     15 

levolent,  but  also  with  bodily  presences  usually  in 
terrific  bestial  form.  To  those  who  believe  in  one 
Spirit  pervading,  ordering,  governing  all  things,  there 
is  unity  amid  all  phenomena,  and  the  universe  is  all 
order  and  beauty.  To  the  mind  which  has  not  reached 
this  height  of  simplicity,  instead  of  one  cause  there 
are  many.  The  diverse  phenomena  of  nature  are 
brought  about  by  spirits  innumerable,  warring  and 
discordant.  Instead  of  a  unity  to  the  mind,  as  of  sun 
and  solar  system,  there  is  nothing  but  planets,  asteroids 
and  a  constant  rain  of  shooting-stars. 

Shamanism. 

Glancing  at  some  phases  of  the  actual  unwritten 
religions  of  Japan  we  name  Shamanism,  Mythical  Zo- 
ology, Fetichism,  Phallicism,  and  Tree  and  Serpent 
Worship. 

In  the  creed  of  Shamanism  there  may  or  there 
may  not  be  a  belief  in  or  conception  of  a  single  all- 
powerful  Creator  above  and  beyond  all.12  Usually 
there  is  not  such  a  belief,  though,  even  if  there  be,  the 
actual  government  of  the  physical  world  and  its  sur- 
roundings is  believed  to  lie  in  the  hands  of  many  spirits 
or  gods  benevolent  and  malevolent.  Earth,  airr  water,, 
all  things  teem  with  beings  that  are  malevolent  and 
constantly  active.  In  time  of  disaster,  famine,  epidem- 
ic the  universe  seems  as  overcrowded  with  them  as 
stagnant  water  seems  to  be  when  the  solar  microscope 
throw  its  contents  into  apparition  upon  the  screen.  It 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  propitiate  these  spirits  by 
magic  rites  and  incantations. 

Among  the  tribes  of  the  northern  part  of  the  Chinese 


16  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Empire  and  the  Ainos  of  Japan  this  Shamanism  ex- 
ists as  something  like  an  organized  cultus.  Indeed,  it 
would  he  hard  to  find  any  part  of  Chinese  Asia  from 
Korea  to  Ann  am  or  from  Tibet  to  Formosa,  not  domi- 
nated by  this  belief  in  the  power  and  presence  of  minor 
spirits.  The  Ainos  of  Yezo  may  be  called  Shamanists 
or  Animists ;  that  is,  their  minds  are  cramped  and 
confused  by  their  belief  in  a  multitude  of  inferior  spirits 
whom  they  worship  and  propitiate  by  rites  and  incan- 
tations through  their  medicine-man  or  sorcerer.  How 
they  whittle  sticks,  keeping  on  the  fringe  of  curled  shav- 
ings, and  set  up  these,  called  inao,  in  places  whence  evil 
is  suspected  to  lurk,  and  how  the  shaman  conducts  his 
exorcisms  and  works  his  healings,  are  told  in  the  works 
of  the  traveller  and  the  missionary.13  In  the  wand  of 
shavings  thus  reared  we  see  the  same  motive  as  that 
which  induced  the  Mikado  in  the  eighth  century  to 
build  the  great  monasteries  on  Hiyeizan,  northeast  of 
Kioto,  this  being  the  quarter  in  which  Buddhist  super- 
stition locates  the  path  of  advancing  evil,  to  ward  off 
malevolence  by  litanies  and  incense.  Or,  the  inao  is  a 
sort  of  lightning-rod  conductor  by  which  impending 
mischief  may  be  led  harmlessly  away, 

Yet,  besides  the  Ainos,14  there  are  millions  of  Jap- 
anese who  are  Shamanists,  even  though  they  know 
not  the  name  or  organized  cult.  And  if  we  make  use  of 
the  term  Shamanism,  one  of  the  myriad  forms  of  An- 
imism, it  is  for  the  very  purpose  of  illustrating  our 
contention  that  the  underlying  paganisms  of  the  Japan- 
ese archipelago,  unwritten  and  unformulated,  are  older 
than  the  religions  founded  on  books ;  and  that  these 
paganisms,  still  vital  and  persistent,  constantly  modify 
and  corrupt  the  recognized  religions,  The  term  Sha- 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     17 

man,  a  Pali  word,  was  originally  a  pure  Buddhist  term 
meaning  one  who  has  separated  from  his  family  and 
his  passions.  One  of  the  designations  of  the  Buddha 
was  Sharnana-Gautama.  The  same  word,  Shamon,  in 
Japanese  still  means  a  bonze,  or  Buddhist  priest.  Its 
appropriation  by  the  sorcerers,  medicine-men,  and  lords 
of  the  misrule  of  superstition  in  Mongolia  and  Man- 
churia shows  decisively  how  indigenous  paganism  has 
corrupted  the  Buddhism  of  northern  Asia  even  as  it  has 
caused  its  decay  in  Japan. 

As  out  of  Animism  or  Shamanism  grows  Fetichism 
in  which  a  visible  object  is  found  for  the  abode  or  me- 
dium of  the  spirit,  so  also,  out  of  the  same  soil  arises 
what  we  may  call  Imaginary  Zoology.  In  this  mental 
growth,  the  nightmare  of  the  diseased  imagination  or 
of  the  mind  unable  to  draw  the  line  between  the  real 
and  the  unreal,  Chinese  Asia  differs  notably  from  the 
Aryan  world.  With  the  mythical  monsters  of  India  and 
Iran  we  are  acquainted,  and  with  those  of  the  Semitic 
and  ancient  European  cycle  of  ideas  which  furnished 
us  with  our  ancients  and  classics  we  are  familiar.  The 
lovely  presences  in  human  form,  the  semi-human  and 
bestial  creations,  sphinxes,  naiads,  satyrs,  fauns,  harpies, 
griffins,  with  which  the  fancy  of  the  Mediterranean  na- 
tions populated  glen,  grotto,  mountain  and  stream,  are 
probably  outnumbered  by  the  less  beautiful  and  even 
hideous  mind-shadows  of  the  Turanian  world.  '  Chief 
among  these  are  what  in  Chinese  literature,  so  slavishly 
borrowed  by  the  Japanese,  are  called  the  four  super- 
natural or  spiritually  endowed  creatures — the  Kirin  or 
Unicorn,  the  Phoenix,  the  Tortoise  and  the  Dragon.15 


18  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


Mythical  Zoology. 

Of  the  first  species  the  ki  is  the  male,  the  lin  is  the 
female,  hence  the  name  Kilin.  The  Japanese  having 
no  I,  pronounce  this  Kirin.  Its  appearance  on  the 
earth  is  regarded  as  a  happy  portent  of  the  advent  of 
good  government  or  the  birth  of  men  who  are  to  prove 
virtuous  rulers.  It  has  the  body  of  a  deer,  the  tail  of 
an  ox,  and  a  single,  soft  horn.  As  messenger  of  mercy 
and  benevolence,  the  Kirin  never  treads  on  a  live  in- 
sect or  eats  growing  grass.  Later  philosophy  made 
this  imaginary  beast  the  incarnation  of  those  five  pri- 
mordial elements — earth,  air,  water,  fire  and  ether — of 
which  all  things,  including  man's  body,  are  made  and 
which  are  symbolized  in  the  shapes  of  the  cube,  globe, 
pyramid,  saucer  and  tuft  of  rays  in  the  Japanese  grave- 
stones. It  is  said  to  attain  the  age  of  a  thousand 
years,  to  be  the  noblest  form  of  the  animal  creation 
and  the  emblem  of  perfect  good.  In  Chinese  and 
Japanese  art  this  creature  holds  a  prominent  place,  and 
in  literature  even  more  so.  It  is  not  only  part  of  the 
repertoire  of  the  artist's  symbols  in  the  Chinese  world 
of  ideas,  but  is  almost  a  necessity  to  the  moulds  of 
thought  in  eastern  Asia.  Yet  it  is  older  than  Confu- 
cius or  the  book-religions,  and  its  conception  shows 
one  of  the  nobler  sides  of  Animism. 

The  Feng-hwang  or  Phoenix,  Japanese  Ho-wo,  the 
second  of  the  incarnations  of  the  spirits,  is  of  won- 
drous form  and  mystic  nature.  The  rare  advent  of  this 
bird  upon  the  earth  is,  like  that  of  the  kirin  or  unicorn, 
a  presage  of  the  advent  of  virtuous  rulers  and  good 
government..  It  has  the  head  of  a  pheasant,  the  beak  of 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     1 9 

a  swallow,  the  neck  of  a  tortoise,  and  the  features  of  the 
dragon  and  fish.  Its  colors  and  streaming  feathers  are 
gorgeous  with  iridian  sheen,  combining  the  splendors  of 
the  pheasant  and  the  peacock.  Its  five  colors  symbolize 
the  cardinal  virtues  of  uprightness  of  mind,  obedience, 
justice,  fidelity  and  benevolence.  The  male  bird  Ho, 
and  female  ivo,  by  their  inseparable  fellowship  furnish 
the  artist,  poet  and  literary  writer  with  the  originals 
of  the  ten  thousand  references  which  are  found  in 
Chinese  and  its  derived  literatures.  Of  this  mystic 
Phoenix  a  Chinese  dictionary  thus  gives  description  : 

The  Phoenix  is  of  the  essence  of  water ;  it  was  born  in  the 
vermilion  cave  ;  it  perches  not  but  on  the  most  beautiful  of 
all  trees  ;  it  eats  not  but  of  the  seed  of  the  bamboo ;  its  body  is 
adorned  with  the  five  colors  ;  its  song  contains  the  five  notes ; 
as  it  walks  it  looks  around  ;  as  it  flies  hosts  of  birds  follow  it. 

Older  than  the  elaborate  descriptions  of  it  and  its  rep- 
resentations in  art,  the  Ho-wo  is  one  of  the  creations 
of  primitive  Chinese  Animism. 

The  Kwei  or  Tortoise  is  not  the  actual  horny  reptile 
known  to  naturalists  and  to  common  experience,  but  a 
spirit,  an  animated  creature  that  ages  ago  rose  up  out 
of  the  Yellow  River,  having  on  its  carapace  the  mystic 
writing  out  of  which  the  legendary  founder  of  Chinese 
civilization  deciphered  the  basis  of  moral  teachings 
and  the  secrets  of  the  unseen.  From  this  divine  tor- 
toise which  conceived  by  thought  alone,  all  other  tor- 
toises sprang.  In  the  elaboration  of  the  myths  and 
legends  concerning  the  tortoise  we  find  many  varieties 
of  this  scaly  incarnation.  It  lives  a  thousand  years, 
hence  it  is  emblem  of  longevity  in  art  and  literature. 
It  is  the  attendant  of  the  god  of  the  waters.  It  has 


20  THE!  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

some  of  the  qualities  and  energies  of  the  dragon, 
it  has  the  power  of  transformation.  In  pictures  and 
sculptures  we  are  familiar  with  its  figure,  often  of 
colossal  size,  as  forming  the  curb  of  a  well,  the  base  of 
a  monument  or  tablet.  Yet,  whatever  its  form  in  liter- 
ature or  art,  it  is  the  later  elaborated  representation  of 
ancient  Animism  which  selected  the  tortoise  as  one  of 
the  manifold  incarnations  or  media  of  the  myriad  spir- 
its that  populate  the  air. 

Chief  and  leader  of  the  four  divinely  constituted 
beasts  is  the  Lung,  Japanese  Rio,  or  Dragon,  which 
has  the  power  of  transformation  and  of  making  itself 
visible  or  invisible.  At  will  it  reduces  itself  to  the  size 
of  a  silk-worm,  or  is  swollen  until  it  fills  the  space  of 
heaven  and  earth.  This  is  the  creature  especially  pre- 
eminent in  art,  literature  and  rhetoric.  There  are  nine 
kinds  of  dragons,  all  with  various  features  and  func- 
tions, and  artists  and  authors  revel  in  their  representa- 
tion. The  celestial  dragon  guards  the  mansions  of  the 
gods  and  supports  them  lest  they  fall ;  the  spiritual 
dragon  causes  the  winds  to  blow  arid  rain  to  descend 
for  the  service  of  mankind ;  the  earth  dragon  marks  out 
the  courses  of  rivers  and  streams;  the  dragon  of  the 
hidden  treasures  watches  over  the  wealth  concealed 
from  mortals,  etc.  Outwardly,  the  dragon  of  supersti- 
tion resembles  the  geological  monsters  brought  to  res- 
urrection by  our  paleontologists.  He  seems  to  incar- 
nate all  the  attributes  and  forces  of  animal  life — vigor, 
rapidity  of  motion,  endurance,  power  of  offence  in  horn, 
hoof,  claw,  tooth,  nail,  scale  and  fiery  breath.  Being 
the  embodiment  of  all  force  the  dragon  is  especially 
symbolical  of  the  emperor.  Usually  associated  with 
malevolence,  one  sees,  besides  the  conventional  ait  and 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:   RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS    2  I 

literature  of  civilization,  the  primitive  animistic  idea  of 
men  to  whose  mind  this  mysterious  universe  had  no 
unity,  who  believed  in  myriad  discordant  spirits  but 
knew  not  of  "  one  Law-giver,  who  is  able  both  to  save 
and  to  destroy."  An  enlargement,  possibly,  of  prehis- 
toric man's  reminiscence  of  now  extinct  monsters,  the 
dragon  is,  in  its  artistic  development,  a  mythical  em- 
bodiment of  all  the  powers  of  moisture  to  bless  and  to 
harm.  We  shall  see  how,  when  Buddhism  entered  China, 
the  cobra-de-capello,  so  often  figured  in  the  Buddhistic 
representations  of  India,  is  replaced  by  the  dragon. 

Yet  besides  these  four  incarnations  of  the  spirits 
that  misrule  the  world  there  is  a  host,  a  menagerie  of 
mythical  monsters.  In  Korea,  one  of  the  Asian  coun- 
tries richest  in  demonology,  beast  worship  is  very  prev- 
alent. Mythical  winged  tigers  and  flying  serpents 
with  attributes  of  fire,  lightning  and  combinations  of 
forces  not  found  in  any  one  creature,  are  common  to  the 
popular  fancy.  In  Japan,  the  kappa,  half  monkey  half 
tortoise,  which  seizes  children  bathing  in  the  rivers, 
as  real  to  millions  of  the  native  common  folk  as  is  the 
shark  or  porpoise ;  the  fly  ing- weasel,  that  moves  in 
the  whirlwind  with  sickle-like  blades  on  his  claws, 
which  cut  the  face  of  the  unfortunate ;  the  wind-god 
or  imp  that  lets  loose  the  gale  or  storm ;  the  thunder- 
imp  or  hairy,  cat-like  creature  that  on  the  cloud-edges 
beats  his  drums  in  crash,  roll,  or  rattle  ;  the  earthquake- 
fish  or  subterranean  bull-head  or  cat-fish  that  wriggles 
and  writhes,  causing  the  earth  to  shiver,  shudder  and 
open  ;  the  ja  or  dragon  centipede  ;  the  tengu  or  long- 
nosed  and  winged  mountain  sprite,  which  acts  as  the 
messenger  of  the  gods,  pulling  out  the  tongues  of  fib- 
bing, lying  children ;  besides  the  colossal  spiders  and 


22  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

mythical  creatures  of  the  old  story-books ;  the  foxes, 
badgers,  cats  and  other  creatures  which  transform  them- 
selves and  "  possess  "  human  beings,  still  influence  the 
popular  mind.  These,  once  the  old  kami  of  the  primi- 
tive Japanese,  or  kamui  of  the  aboriginal  Aino,  show 
the  mental  soil  and  climate 16  which  were  to  condition 
the  growth  of  the  seed  imported  from  other  lands, 
whether  of  Buddhism  or  Christianity.  It  is  very  hard 
to  kill  a  god  while  the  old  mind  that  grew  and  nour- 
ished him  still  remains  the  same.  Banish  or  brand  a 
phantom  or  mind-shadow  once  worshipped  as  divine, 
and  it  will  appear  as  a  fairy,  a  demon,  a  mythical  an- 
imal, or  an  oni;  but  to  annihilate  it  requires  many  cen- 
turies of  higher  culture. 

As  with  the  superstitions  and  survival  of  Animism 
and  Fetichism  from  our  pagan  ancestors  among  our- 
selves, many  of  the  lingering  beliefs  may  be  harmless, 
but  over  the  mass  of  men  in  Japan  and  in  Chinese  Asia 
they  still  exert  a  baleful  influence.  They  make  life  full 
of  distress;  they  curtail  human  joy;  they  are  a  hin- 
drance to  spiritual  progress  and  to  civilization. 

Fetichism. 

The  animistic  tendency  in  that  part  of  Asia  domi- 
nated by  the  Chinese  world  of  ideas  shows  itself  not 
only  in  a  belief  in  messengers  or  embodiments  of  divine 
malevolence  or  benevolence,  but  also  in  the  location  of 
the  spiritual  influence  in  or  upon  an  inanimate  object 
or  fetich.  Among  men  in  Chinese  Asia,  from  the  clod- 
hopper to  the  gentleman,  the  inheritance  of  Fetichism 
from  the  primeval  ages  is  constantly  noticeable.  Let 
us  glance  at  the  term  itself. 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     23 

As  the  Chinaman's  "Joss"  is  only  his  own  pronun- 
ciation of  the  Portuguese  word  .Deos,  or  the  Latin  Deus, 
so  the  word  "fetich"  is  but  the  Portuguese  modifica- 
tion of  the  Latin  word  facticius,  that  is  fetiiqo.  Port- 
ugal, beginning  nearly  five  hundred  years  ago,  had  the 
honor  of  sending  the  first  ships  and  crews  to  explore 
the  coasts  of  Africa  and  Asia,  and  her  sailors  by  this 
word,  now  Englished  as  fetich,  described  the  native 
charms  or  talismans.  The  word  "  f etichism  "  came  into 
the  European  languages  through  the  work  of  Charles 
de  Brosses,  who,  in  1760,  wrote  on  "Du  Culte  des 
Dieux  Fetiches."  In  Fetichism,  the  "  object  is  treated 
as  having  personal  consciousness  and  power,  is  talked 
with,  worshipped,  prayed  to,  sacrificed  to,  petted  or 
ill-treated  with  reference  to  its  past  or  future  behavior 
to  its  votaries." 

Let  me  draw  a  picture  from  actual  observation.  I 
look  out  of  the  windows  of  my  house  in  Fukui.  Here 
is  a  peasant  who  comes  back  after  the  winter  to  pre- 
pare his  field  for  cultivation.  The  man's  horizon  of 
ideas,  like  his  vocabulary,  is  very  limited.  His  view  of 
actual  life  is  bounded  by  a  few  rice-fields,  a  range  of 
hills,  and  the  village  near  by.  Possibly  one  visit  to  a 
city  or  large  town  has  enriched  his  experience.  More 
probably,  however,  the  wind  and  clouds,  the  weather, 
the  soil,  crops  and  taxes,  his  family  and  food  and  how 
to  provide  for  them,  are  the  main  thoughts  that  occupy 
his  mind.  Before  he  will  strike  mattock  or  spade  in 
the  soil,  lay  axe  to  a  tree,  collect  or  burn  underbrush, 
he  will  select  a  stone,  a  slab  of  rock  or  a  stick  of  wood, 
set  it  upon  hill  side  or  mud  field-boundary,  and  to  this 
he  will  bow,  prostrate  himself  or  pray.  To  him,  this 
stone  or  stick  is  consecrated.  It  has  power  to  placate 


24  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  spirits  and  ward  off  their  evil.  It  is  the  medium 
of  communication  between  him  and  them.  Now,  hav- 
ing attended,  as  he  thinks,  to  the  proprieties  in  the 
case,  he  proceeds  to  dig,  plough,  drain,  put  in  order 
and  treat  soil  or  water,  tree  or  other  growth  as  is  most 
convenient  for  his  purpose.  His  fetich  is  erected  to 
"the  honorable  spirits."  Were  this  not  attended  to, 
some  known  or  unknown  bad  luck,  sinister  fortune,  or 
calamity  would  befall  him.  Here,  then,  is  a  fetich-wor- 
shipper. The  stick  or  stone  is  the  medium  of  commu- 
nication between  the  man  and  the  spirits  who  can  bless 
or  harm  him,  and  which  to  his  mind  are  as  couutlessly 
numerous  as  the  swarms  of  mosquitoes  which  he  drives 
out  of  and  away  from  his  summer  cottage  by  smudge 
fires  in  August. 

One  need  not  travel  in  Yezo  or  Saghalin  to  see  prac- 
tical Fetichism.  Go  where  you  will  in  Japan,  there  are 
fetich  worshippers.  Among  the  country  folk,  the 
"inaka"  of  Japanese  parlance,  Fetichism  is  seen  in  its 
grossest  forms.  Yet  among  probably  millions  of  Buddh- 
ists, especially  of  certain  sects,  the  Nichiren  for  ex- 
ample, and  even  among  the  rationalistic  Confucians, 
there  are  fetich-worshippers.  Rare  is  the  Japanese 
farmer,  laborer,  mechanic,  ward-man,  or  hei-min  of  any 
trade  who  does  not  wear  amulet,  charm  or  other  object 
which  he  regards  with  more  or  less  of  reverence  as  hav- 
ing relation  to  the  powers  that  help  or  harm.17  In 
most  of  the  Buddhist  temples  these  amulets  are  sold 
for  the  benefit  of  the  priests  or  of  the  shrine  or  mon- 
astery. Not  a  few  even  of  the  gentry  consider  it  best  to 
be  on  the  safe  side  and  wear  in  pouch  or  purse  these 
protectors  against  evil. 

Of  the  7,817,570  houses  in  the  empire,  enumerated 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BfiFORE  BOOKS     25 

in  the  census  of  1892,  it  is  probable  that  seven  millions 
of  them  are  subjects  of  insurance  by  fetich.18  They 
are  guaranteed  against  fire,  thieves,  lightning,  plague 
and  pestilence.  It  is  because  of  money  paid  to  the 
priests  that  the  wooden  policies  are  duly  nailed  on 
the  walls,  and  not  on  account  of  the  wise  application 
of  mathematical,  financial  or  medical  science.  Ex- 
amine also  the  paper  packages  carefully  tied  and  af- 
fixed above  the  transom,  decipher  the  writing  in  ink  or 
the  brand  left  by  the  hot  iron  on  the  little  slabs  of 
pine- wood — there  may  be  one  or  a  score  of  them — and 
what  will  you  read  ?  Names  of  the  temples  with  date 
of  issue  and  seal  of  certificate  from  the  priests,  mottoes 
or  titles  from  sacred  books,  often  only  a  Sanskrit  letter 
or  monogram,  of  which  the  priest-pedler  may  long 
since  have  forgotten  the  meaning.  To  build  a  house, 
select  a  cemetery  or  proceed  to  any  of  the  ordinary 
events  of  life  without  making  use  of  some  sort  of  ma- 
terial fetich,  is  unusual,  extraordinary  and  is  voted 
heterodox. 

Long  after  the  brutish  stage  of  thought  is  past  the 
fetichistic  instinct  remains  in  the  sacredness  attached 
to  the  mere  letter  or  paper  or  parchment  of  the  sacred 
book  or  writing,  when  used  as  amulet,  plaster  or  medi- 
cine. The  survivals,  even  in  Buddhism,  of  ancient  and 
prehistoric  Fetichism  are  many  and  often  with  undenied 
approval  of  the  religious  authorities,  especially  in 
those  sects  which  are  themselves  reversions  to  primitive 
and  lower  types  of  religion. 

Among  the  Amos  of  Yezo  and  Saghalin  the  medi- 
cine-man or  shaman  is  decorated  with  fetichistic  bric- 
a-brac  of  all  sorts,  and  these  bits  of  shells,  metals,  and 
other  clinking  substances  are  believed  to  be  media  of 


26  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

communication  with  mysterious  influences  and  forces. 
In  Korea  thousands  of  trees  bedecked  with  fluttering 
rags,  clinking  scraps  of  tin,  metal  or  stone  signify  the 
same  thing.  In  Japan  these  primitive  tinkling  scraps 
and  clinking  bunches  of  glass  have  long  since  become 
the  suzu  or  wind-bells  seen  on  the  pagoda  which  tintin- 
abulate  with  every  passing  breeze.  The  whittled  sticks 
of  the  Aino,  non-conductors  of  evil  and  protectors  of 
those  who  make  and  rear  them,  stuck  up  in  every 
place  of  awe  or  supposed  danger,  have  in  the  slow 
evolution  of  centuries  become  the  innumerable  flag- 
poles, banners  and  streamers  which  one  sees  at  their 
matsuris  or  temple  festivals.  Millions  of  towels  and 
handkerchiefs  still  flutter  over  wells  and  on  sacred 
trees.  In  old  Japan  the  banners  of  an  army  almost 
outnumbered  the  men  who  fought  beneath  them.  To- 
day, at  times  they  nearly  conceal  the  temples  from 
view. 

The  civilized  Japanese,  having  passed  far  beyond 
the  Aino's  stage  of  religion,  still  show  their  fetichistic 
instincts  in  the  veneration  accorded  to  priestly  inven- 
tions for  raising  re  venue.19  This  instinct  lingers  in  the 
faith  accorded  to  medicine  in  the  form  of  decoction, 
pill,  bolus  or  poultice  made  from  the  sacred  writing 
and  piously  swallowed ;  in  the  reverence  paid  to  the 
idol  for  its  own  sake,  and  in  the  charm  or  amulet  worn 
by  the  soldier  in  his  cap  or  by  the  gentleman  in  his 
pill-box,  tobacco-pouch  or  purse. 

As  the  will  of  the  worshipper  who  selects  the  fetich 
makes  it  what  it  is,  so  also,  by  the  exercise  of  that  will 
he  imagines  he  can  in  a  certain  measure  be  the  equal 
or  superior  of  his  god.  Like  the  Italian  peasant  who 
beats  or  scolds  his  bambino  when  his  prayers  are  not 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH:  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS     27 

answered  or  his  wishes  gratified,  so  the  fetich  is  pun- 
ished or  not  allowed  to  know  what  is  going  on,  by  be- 
ing covered  up  or  hidden  away.  Instances  of  such 
rough  handling  of  their  fetiches  by  the  people  are  far 
from  unknown  in  the  Land  of  Great  Peace.  At  such 
childishness  we  may  wonder  and  imagine  that  fetich  - 
worship  is  the  very  antipodes  of  religion;  and  yet  it  re- 
quires but  little  study  of  the  lower  orders  of  mind  and 
conduct  in  Christendom  to  see  how  fetich- worship  still 
lingers  among  people  called  Christians,  whether  the 
fetich  be  the  image  of  a  saint  or  the  Virgin,  or  a  verse 
of  the  Bible  found  at  random  and  used  much  as  is 
a  penny-toss  to  decide  minor  actions.  Or,  to  look 
farther  south,  what  means  the  rabbit's  foot  carried  in 
the  pocket  or  the  various  articles  of  faith  now  hanging 
in  the  limbo  between  religion  and  folk-lore  in  various 
parts  of  our  own  country  ? 

Phallicism. 

Further  illustrations  of  far  Eastern  Animism  and 
Fetichism  are  seen  in  forms  once  vastly  more  prevalent 
in  Japan  than  now.  Indeed,  so  far  improved  off  the  face 
of  the  earth  are  they,  that  some  are  already  matters  of 
memory  or  archaeology,  and  their  very  existence  even 
in  former  days  is  nearly  or  wholly  incredible  to  the 
generation  born  since  1868 — when  Old  Japan  began  to 
vanish  in  dissolving  views  and  New  Japan  to  emerge. 
What  the  author  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  would 
amaze  many  Japanese  born  since  1868  and  the  readers 
of  the  rhapsodies  of  tourists  who  study  Japan  from  the 
jin-riki-ska.  Phases  of  tree  and  serpent  worship  are 
still  quite  common,  and  will  be  probably  for  genera- 


28  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ations  to  come ;  but  the  phallic  shrines  and  emblems 
abolished  by  the  government  in  1872  have  been  so 
far  invisible  to  most  living  travellers  and  natives,  that 
their  once  general  existence  and  use  are  now  scarcely 
suspected.  Even  profound  scholars  of  the  Japanese 
language  and  literature  whose  work  dates  from  after 
the  year  1872  have  scarcely  suspected  the  universality 
of  phallic  worship.  Yet  what  we  could  say  of  this  cult 
and  its  emblems,  especially  in  treating  of  Shinto,  the 
special  ethnic  faith  of  Japan,  would  be  from  sight  of 
our  own  eyes  besides  the  testimony  of  many  wit- 
nesses.20 

The  cultus  has  been  known  in  the  Japanese  archi- 
pelago from  Kiu  Kiu  to  Yezo.  Despite  official  edicts  of 
abolition  it  is  still  secretly  practised  by  the  "heathen," 
the  inaka  of  Japan.  "  Government  law  lasts  three 
days,"  is  an  ancient  proverb  in  Nippon.  Sharp  eyes 
have,  within  three  months  of  the  writing  of  this  line, 
unearthed  a  phallic  shrine  within  a  stone's-throw  of 
Shinto's  most  sacred  temples  at  Ise.  Formerly,  how- 
ever, these  implements  of  worship  were  seen  numer- 
ously— in  the  cornucopia  distributed  in  the  temples,  in 
the  matsuris  or  religious  processions  and  in  represen- 
tation by  various  plastic  material — and  all  this  until 
1872,  to  an  extent  that  is  absolutely  incredible  to  all 
except  the  eye-witnesses,  some  of  whose  written  testi- 
monies we  possess.  What  seems  to  our  mind  shocking 
and  revolting  was  once  a  part  of  our  own  ancestors' 
faith,  and  until  very  recently  was  the  perfectly  natural 
and  innocent  creed  of  many  millions  of  Japanese  and 
is  yet  the  same  for  tens  of  thousands  of  them. 

We  may  easily  see  why  and  how  that  which  to  us  is 
a  degrading  cult  was  not  only  closely  allied  to  Shinto, 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH :  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS    29 

but  directly  fostered  by  and  properly  a  part  of  it,  as 
soon  as  we  read  the  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
world,  as  contained  in  the  national  "  Book  of  Ancient 
Traditions,"  the  "Kojiki."  Several  of  the  opening 
paragraphs  of  this  sacred  book  of  Shinto  are  phallic 
myths  explaining  cosmogony.  Yet  the  myths  and  the 
cult  are  older  than  the  writing  and  are  phases  of  primi- 
tive Japanese  faith.  The  mystery  of  fatherhood  is  to 
the  primitive  man  the  mystery  of  creation  also.  To 
him  neither  the  thought  nor  the  word  was  at  hand  to 
put  difference  and  transcendental  separation  between 
him  and  what  he  worshipped  as  a  god. 

Into  the  details  of  the  former  display  and  carriage 
of  these  now  obscene  symbols  in  the  popular  celebra- 
tions ;  of  the  behavior  of  even  respectable  citizens 
during  the  excitement  and  frenzy  of  the  festivals ;  of 
their  presence  in  the  wayside  shrines  ;  of  the  philoso- 
phy, hideousness  or  pathos  of  the  subject,  we  cannot 
here  enter.  We  simply  call  attention  to  their  exist- 
ence, and  to  a  form  of  thought,  if  not  of  religion, 
properly  so-called,  which  has  survived  all  imported 
systems  of  faith  and  which  shows  what  the  native  or 
indigenous  idea  of  divinity  really  is — an  idea  that  pro- 
foundly affects  the  organization  of  society.  To  the 
enlightened  Buddhist,  Confucian,  and  even  the  modern 
Shintoist  the  phallus-worshipper  is  a  "  heathen,"  a 
"  pagan,"  and  yet  he  still  practises  his  faith  and  rites. 
It  is  for  us  to  hint  at  the  powerful  influence  such  per- 
sistent ideas  have  upon  Japanese  morals  and  civiliza- 
tion. Still  further,  we  illustrate  the  basic  fact  which 
all  foreign  religions  and  all  missionaries,  Confucian, 
Buddhist,  Mahometan  or  Christian  must  deal  with, 
viz. :  That  the  Eastern  Asiatic  mind  runs  to  pan  the- 


30  THE  RELIGIONS  OP  JAPAN 

ism  as  surely  as  the  body  of  flesh  and  blood  seeks 
food. 

Tree  and  Serpent  Worship. 

In  prehistoric  and  mediaeval  Japan,  as  among  the 
Ainos  to-day,  trees  and  bushes  as  well  as  rocks, 
rivers  and  other  inanimate  objects  were  worshipped, 
because  such  of  them  as  were  supposed  for  reasons 
known  and  felt  to  be  awe-inspiring  or  wonderful  were 
"  kami,"  that  is,  above  the  common,  wonderful.21  This 
word  kami  is  usually  translated  god  or  deity,  but  the 
term  does  not  conform  to  our  ideas,  by  a  great  gulf 
of  difference.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  Japan- 
ese term  kami  is  the  same  as  the  Aino  word  kamui, 
and  that  the  despised  and  conquered  aboriginal  savage 
has  furnished  the  mould  of  the  ordinary  Japanese  idea 
of  god — which  even  to-day  with  them  means  anything 
wonderful  or  extraordinary.22  From  the  days  before 
history  the  people  have  worshipped  trees,  and  do  so 
yet,  considering  them  as  the  abodes  of  and  as  means  of 
communication  with  supernatural  powers.  On  them 
the  people  hang  their  votive  offerings,  twist  on  the 
branches  their  prayers  written  on  paper,  avoid  cutting 
down,  breaking  or  in  any  way  injuring  certain  trees. 
The  sakaki  tree  is  especially  sacred,  even  to  this  day, 
in  funeral  or  Shinto  services.  To  wound  or  defile  a 
tree  sacred  to  a  particular  god  was  to  call  forth  the 
vengeance  of  the  insulted  deity  upon  the  insulter,  or 
as  the  hearer  of  prayer  upon  another  to  whom  guilt 
was  imputed  and  punishment  was  due. 

Thus,  in  the  days  older  than  this  present  genera- 
tion, but  still  within  this  century,  as  the  writer  has 
witnessed,  it  was  the  custom  of  women  betrayed  by 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH :  BELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS  31 

their  lovers  to  perform  the  religious  act  of  vengeance 
called  Ushi  toki  mairi,  or  going  to  the  temple  at  the 
hour  of  the  ox,  that  is  at  2  A.M.  First  making  an  im- 
age or  manikin  of  straw,  she  set  out  on  her  errand  of 
revenge,  with  nails  held  in  her  mouth  and  with  ham- 
mer in  one  hand  and  straw  figure  in  the  other,  some- 
times also  having  on  her  head  a  reversed  tripod  in 
which  were  stuck  three  lighted  candles.  Arriving  at 
the  shrine  she  selected  a  tree  dedicated  to  a  god,  and 
then  nailed  the  straw  simulacrum  of  her  betrayer  to 
the  trunk,  invoking  the  kami  to  curse  and  annihilate 
the  destroyer  of  her  peace.  She  adjures  the  god  to 
save  his  tree,  impute  the  guilt  of  desecration  to  the 
traitor  and  visit  him  with  deadly  vengeance.  The 
visit  is  repeated  and  nails  are  driven  until  the  object 
of  the  incantation  sickens  and  dies,  or  is  at  least  sup- 
posed to  do  so.  I  have  more  than  once  seen  such 
trees  and  straw  images  upon  them  and  have  observed 
others  in  which  the  large  number  of  rusted  nails  and 
fragments  of  straw  showed  how  tenaciously  the  super- 
stition lingered.23 

In  instances  more  pleasant  to  witness,  may  be  seen 
trees  festooned  with  the  symbolical  rice-straw  in  cords 
and  fringes.  With  these  the  people  honor  the  trees 
as  the  abode  of  the  kami,  or  as  evidence  of  their  faith 
in  the  renown  accredited  in  the  past. 

In  common  with  most  human  beings  the  Japanese 
consider  the  serpent  an  object  of  mystery  and  awe, 
but  most  of  them  go  further  and  pay  the  ophidian  a 
reverence  and  awe  which  is  worship.  Their  oldest 
literature  shows  how  large  a  part  the  serpent  played  in 
the  so-called  divine  age,  how  it  acted  as  progenitress 
of  the  Mikado's  ancestry,  and  bow  it  afforded  means 


32  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  incarnation  for  the  kami  or  gods.  Ten  species  of 
ophidia  are  known  in  the  Japanese  islands,  but  in  the 
larger  number  of  more  or  less  imaginary  varieties 
which  figure  in  the  ancient  books  we  shall  find  plenty  of 
material  for  fetich-worship.  In  perusing  the  "  Kojiki  " 
one  scarcely  knows,  when  he  begins  a  story,  whether 
the  character  which  to  all  appearance  is  a  man  or 
woman  is  to  end  as  a  snake,  or  whether  the  mother 
after  delivering  her  child  will  or  will  not  glide  into  the 
marsh  or  slide  away  into  the  sea,  leaving  behind  a  trail 
of  slime.  A  dragon  is  three-fourths  serpent,  and  both 
the  dragon  and  the  serpent  are  prominent  figures,  per- 
haps the  most  prominent  of  the  kami  or  gods  in  human 
or  animal  form  in  the  "  Kojiki "  and  other  early  legends 
of  the  gods,  though  the  crocodile,  crow,  deer,  dog,  and 
other  animals  are  kami.24  It  is  therefore  no  wonder 
that  serpents  have  been  and  are  still  worshipped  by 
the  people,  that  some  of  their  gods  and  goddesses  are 
liable  at  any  time  to  slip  away  in  scaly  form,  that 
famous  temples  are  built  on  sites  noted  as  being  the 
abode  or  visible  place  of  the  actual  water  or  land  snake 
of  natural  history,  and  that  the  spot  where  a  serpent  is 
seen  to-day  is  usually  marked  with  a  sacred  emblem 
or  a  shrine.25  "We  shall  see  how  this  snake-worship 
became  not  only  a  part  of  Shinto  but  even  a  notable 
feature  in  corrupt  Buddhism. 

Pantheism's  Destruction  of  Boundaries.™ 

In  its  rudest  forms,  this  pantheism  branches  out  into 
animism  or  shamanism,  fetichism  and  phallicism.  In 
its  higher  forms,  it  becomes  polytheism,  idolatry  and 
defective  philosophy.  Having  centuries  ago  corrupted 


PRIMITIVE  FAITH :  RELIGION  BEFORE  BOOKS    33 

Buddhism  it  is  the  malaria  which,  unseen  and  unf  elt,  is 
ready  to  poison  and  corrupt  Christianity.  Indeed,  it 
has  already  given  over  to  disease  and  spiritual  death 
more  than  one  once  hopeful  Christian  believer,  teacher 
and  preacher  in  the  Japan  of  our  decade. 

To  assault  and  remove  the  incubus,  to  replace  and 
refill  the  mind,  to  lift  up  and  enlighten  the  Japanese 
peasant,  science  as  already  known  and  faith  in  one 
God,  Creator  and  Father  of  all  things,  must  go  hand 
in  hand.  Education  and  civilization  will  do  much  for 
the  ignorant  inaka  or  boors,  but  for  the  cultured  whose 
minds  waver  and  whose  feet  flounder,  as  well  as  for 
the  unlearned  and  priest-ridden,  there  is  no  surer  help 
and  healing  than  that  faith  in  the  Heavenly  Father 
which  gives  the  unifying  thought  to  him  who  looks 
into  creation. 

Keep  the  boundary  line  clear  between  God  and  his 
world  and  all  is  order  and  discrimination.  Obliterate 
that  boundary  and  all  is  pathless  morass,  black  chaos 
and  on  the  mind  the  phantasms  which  belong  to  the 
victim  of  delirium  tremens. 

There  is  one  Lawgiver.     In  the  beginning,  God.    In 
the  end,  God,  all  in  all. 
3 


SHINTO  :   MYTHS  AND  KITUAL 


u  In  the  great  days  of  old,  And  what  they  loved  to  tell, 

When  o'er  the  land  the  gods  held  We  of   this  later    age  ourselves  do 

sov'reign  sway,  prove  ; 

Our  fathers  lov'd  to  say  For  every  living  man 

That  the  bright  gods  with  tender  May  feast  his  eyes  on  tokens  of  their 

care  enfold  love." 

The  fortunes  of  Japan,  — Poem  of  Yamagami-no  Okura, 

Blessing  the  land  with  many  an  A.D.  733. 

holy  spell : 

Baal :  u  While  I  on  towers  and  hanging  terraces, 
In  shaft  and  obelisk,  beheld  my  sign 
Creative,  shape  of  first  imperious  law." 

—Bayard  Taylor's  "  Masque  of  the  Gods." 

"  Thou  hast  also  taken  thy  fair  jewels  of  my  gold  and  of  my  silver, 
which  I  had  given  thee,  and  madest  to  thyself  images  of  men,  and  didst 
commit  whoredom  with  them,  and  tookest  thy  broidered  garments,  and 
coveredst  them  :  and  thou  hast  set  mine  oil  and  mine  incense  before  them. 
My  meat  also  which  I  gave  thee,  fine  flour,  and  oil,  and  honey,  wherewith 
I  fed  thee,  thou  hast  even  set  it  before  them  fora  sweet  savor  :  and  thus 
it  was,  saith  the  Lord  GOD." — Ezekiel. 

"  If  it  be  said  (as  has  been  the  case),  4  Shintoism  has  nothing  in  it,'  we 
should  be  inclined  to  answer,  '  So  much  the  better,  there  is  less  error  to 
counteract.'  But  there  is  something  in  it,  and  that  ...  of  a  kind 
of  which  we  may  well  avail  ourselves  when  making  known  the  second  com- 
mandment, and  the  4  fountain  of  cleansing  from  all  sin.'  " — E.  W.  Syle. 

"  If  Shinto  has  a  dogma,  it  is  purity." — Kaburagi. 

u  I  will  wash  my  hands  in  innocency,  O  Lord  :  and  so  will  I  go  to  thine 
altar."— Ps.  xxvi  6. 


CHAPTEE  II 

SHINTO  :   MYTHS  AND   RITUAL 
The  Japanese  a  Young  Nation 

WHAT  impresses  us  in  the  study  of  the  history  of 
Japan  is  that,  compared  with  China  and  Korea,  she  is 
young.  Her  history  is  as  the  story  of  yesterday. 
The  nation  is  modern.  The  Japanese  are  as  younger 
children  in  the  great  family  of  Asia's  historic  people. 
Broadly  speaking,  Japan  is  no  older  than  England, 
and  authentic  Japanese  history  no  more  ancient  than 
British  history.  In  Albion,  as  in  the  Honorable 
Country,  there  are  traditions  and  mythologies  that 
project  their  shadows  aeons  back  of  genuine  records ; 
but  if  we  consider  that  English  history  begins  in  the 
fifth,  and  English  literature  in  the  eighth  century,  then 
there  are  other  reasons  besides  those  commonly  given 
for  calling  Japan  "  the  England  of  the  East." 

No  trustworthy  traditions  exist  which  carry  the 
known  history  of  Japan  farther  back  than  the  fifth 
century.  The  means  for  measuring  and  recording 
time  were  probably  not  in  use  until  the  sixth  century. 
The  oldest  documents  in  the  Japanese  language,  ex- 
cepting a  few  fragments  of  the  seventh  century,  do  not 
antedate  the  year  712,  and  even  in  these  the  Chinese 
characters  are  in  many  instances  used  phonetically,  be- 
cause the  meaning  of  the  words  thus  transliterated  had 


38  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

already  been  forgotten.  Hence  their  interpretation  in 
detail  is  still  largely  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

Yet  the  Japanese  Archipelago  was  inhabited  long 
before  the  dawn  of  history.  The  concurrent  testi- 
mony of  the  earliest  literary  monuments,  of  the  in- 
digenous mythology,  of  folk-lore,  of  shell-heaps  and 
of  kitchen-middens  shows  that  the  occupation  by  hu- 
man beings  of  the  main  islands  must  be  ascribed  to 
times  long  before  the  Christian  era.  Before  written 
records  or  ritual  of  worship,  religion  existed  on  its  ac- 
tive or  devotional  side,  and  there  were  mature  growths 
of  thought  preserved  and  expressed  orally.  Poems, 
songs,  chants  and  norito  or  liturgies  were  kept  alive 
in  the  human  memory,  and  there  was  a  system  of  wor- 
ship, the  name  of  which  was  given  long  after  the  intro- 
duction of  Buddhism.  This  descriptive  term,  Kami 
no  Michi  in  Japanese,  and  Shin-to  in  the  Chinese  as 
pronounced  by  Japanese,  means  the  Way  of  the  Gods, 
the  to  or  final  syllable  being  the  same  as  tao  in  Tao- 
ism. We  may  say  that  Shinto  means,  literally,  theos- 
logos,  theology.  The  customs  and  practices  existed 
centuries  before  contact  with  Chinese  letters,  and  long 
previous  to  the  Shinto  literature  which  is  now  extant. 

Whether  Kami  no  Michi  is  wholly  the  product  of 
Japanese  soil,  or  whether  its  rudimentary  ideas  were 
imported  from  the  neighboring  Asian  continent  and 
more  or  less  allied  to  the  primitive  Chinese  religion,  is 
still  an  open  question.  The  preponderance  of  argu- 
ment tends,  however,  to  show  that  it  was  an  importa- 
tion as  to  its  origin,  for  not  a  few  events  outlined  in 
the  Japanese  mythology  cast  shadows  of  reminiscence 
upon  Korea  or  the  Asian  mainland.  In  its  develop- 
ment, however,  the  cultus  is  almost  wholly  Japanese. 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  39 

The  modern  forms  of  Shinto,  as  moulded  by  the  re- 
vivalists of  the  eighteenth  century,  are  at  many  points 
notably  different  from  the  ancient  faith.  At  the 
World's  Parliament  of  Keligions  at  Chicago,  Shinto 
seemed  to  be  the  only  one,  and  probably  the  last,  of 
the  purely  provincial  religions. 

In  order  to  gain  a  picture  of  life  in  Japan  before  the 
introduction  of  Chinese  civilization,  we  must  consult 
those  photographs  of  the  minds  of  the  ancient  island- 
ers which  still  exist  in  their  earliest  literature.  The 
fruits  of  the  study  of  ethnology,  anthropology  and 
archaeology  greatly  assist  us  in  picturing  the  day- 
break of  human  life  in  the  Morning  Land.  In  pre- 
paring materials  for  the  student  of  the  religions  of 
Japan  many  laborers  have  wrought  in  various  fields, 
but  the  chief  literary  honors  have  been  taken  by  the 
English  scholars,  Messrs.  Satow,1  Aston,2  and  Cham- 
berlain.3 These  untiring  workers  have  opened  the 
treasures  of  ancient  thought  in  the  Altaic  world.4 

Although  even  these  archaic  Japanese  compositions, 
readable  to-day  only  by  special  scholars,  are  more  or 
less  affected  by  Chinese  influences,  ideas  and  modes  of 
expression,  yet  they  are  in  the  main  faithful  reflections 
of  the  ancient  life  before  the  primitive  faith  of  the 
Japanese  people  was  either  disturbed  or  reduced  to 
system  in  presence  of  an  imported  religion.  These 
monuments  of  history,  poetry  and  liturgies  are  the 
"  Kojiki,"  or  Notices  of  Ancient  Things ;  the  "  Man- 
yoshu  "  or  Myriad  Leaves  or  Poems,  and  the  "  Norito," 
or  Liturgies. 


40  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


The  Ancient  Documents. 

The  first  book,  the  "  Kojiki,"  gives  us  the  theology, 
cosmogony,  mythology,  and  very  probably,  in  its  later 
portions,  some  outlines  of  history  of  the  ancient  Japan- 
ese. The  "  Kojiki  "  is  the  real,  the  dogmatic  exponent, 
or,  if  we  may  so  say,  the  Bible,  of  Shinto.  The  "  Many- 
oshu,"  or  Book  of  Myriad  Poems,  expresses  the 
thoughts  and  feelings ;  reflects  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  primitive  generations,  and,  in  the  same  sense  as 
do  the  Sagas  of  the  Scandinavians,  furnishes  us  un- 
chronological  but  interesting  and  more  or  less  real  nar- 
ratives of  events  which  have  been  glorified  by  the  poets 
and  artists.  The  ancient  codes  of  law  and  of  cere- 
monial procedure  are  of  great  value,  while  the  "Norito" 
are  excellent  mirrors  in  which  to  see  reflected  the  relig- 
ion called  Shinto  on  the  more  active  side  of  worship. 

In  a  critical  study,  either  of  the  general  body  of 
national  tradition  or  of  the  ancient  documents,  we  must 
continually  be  on  our  guard  against  the  usual  assump- 
tion that  Chinese  civilization  came  in  earlier  than  it 
really  did.  This  assumption  colors  all  modern  Japanese 
popular  ideas,  art  and  literature.  The  vice  of  the  pu- 
pil nations  surrounding  the  Middle  Kingdom  is  their 
desire  to  have  it  believed  that  Chinese  letters  and  cult- 
ure among  them  is  as  nearly  coeval  with  those  of 
China  as  can  be  made  truly  or  falsely  to  appear.  The 
Koreans,  for  example,  would  have  us  believe  that  their 
civilization,  based  on  letters  and  introduced  by  Kishi,  is 
"  four  thousand  years  old  "  and  contemporaneous  with 
China's  own,  and  that  "the  Koreans  are  among  the 
oldest  people  of  the  world."5  The  average  modern 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  41 

Japanese  wishes  the  date  of  authentic  or  official  history 
projected  as  far  back  as  possible.  Yet  he  is  a  modest 
man  compared  with  his  mediaeval  ancestor,  who  con- 
structed chronology  out  of  ink-stones.  Over  a  thou- 
sand years  ago  a  deliberate  forgery  was  officially  put 
on  paper.  A  whole  line  of  emperors  who  never  lived 
was  canonized,  and  clever  penmen  set  down  in  ink  long 
chapters  which  describe  what  never  happened.6  Fur- 
thermore, even  after,  and  only  eight  years  after  the 
fairly  honest  "  Kojiki "  had  been  compiled,  the  book 
called  "  Mhongi,"  or  Chronicles  of  Japan,  was  written. 
All  the  internal  and  not  a  little  external  evidence  shows 
that  the  object  of  this  book  is  to  give  the  impression 
that  Chinese  ideas,  culture  and  learning  had  long  been 
domesticated  in  Japan.  The  "  Nihongi"  gives  dates  of 
events  supposed  to  have  happened  fifteen  hundred 
years  before,  with  an  accuracy  which  may  be  called 
villainous  ;  while  the  "  Kojiki  "  states  that  Wani,  a  Ko- 
rean teacher,  brought  the  "  Thousand  Character  Clas- 
sic "  to  Japan  in  A.D.  285,  though  that  famous  Chinese 
book  was  not  composed  until  the  sixth  century,  or  A.D. 
550.7 

Even  to  this  day  it  is  nearly  impossible  for  an  Amer- 
ican to  get  a  Korean  "  frog  in  the  well " 8  to  under- 
stand why  the  genuine  native  life  and  history,  language 
and  learning  of  his  own  peninsular  country  is  of  greater 
value  to  the  student  than  the  pedantry  borrowed  from 
China.  Why  these  possess  any  interest  to  a  "  scholar" 
is  a  mystery  to  the  head  in  the  horsehair  net.  Any- 
thing of  value,  he  thinks,  must  be  on  the  Chinese  mod- 
el. What  is  not  Chinese  is  foolish  and  fit  for  women 
and  children  only.  Furthermore,  Korea  "  always  had  " 
Chinese  learning.  This  is  the  sum  of  the  arguments 


4'2  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  the  Korean  literati,  even  as  it  used  to  be  of  the  old- 
time  liatless  Yedo  scholar  of  shaven  skull  and  topknot. 

Despite  Japanese  independence  and  even  arrogance 
in  certain  other  lines,  the  thought  of  the  demolition  of 
cherished  notions  of  vast  antiquity  is  very  painful. 
Critical  study  of  ancient  traditions  is  still  dangerous, 
even  in  parliamentary  Nippon.  Hence  the  unbiassed 
student  must  depend  on  his  own  reading  of  and  judg- 
ment upon  the  ancient  records,  assisted  by  the  thor- 
ough work  done  by  the  English  scholars  Aston,  Sa- 
tow,  Chamberlain,  Bramsen  and  others. 

It  was  the  coming  of  Buddhism  in  the  sixth  centu- 
ry, and  the  implanting  on  the  soil  of  Japan  of  a  sys- 
tem of  religion  in  which  were  temples  with  all  that 
was  attractive  to  the  eye,  gorgeous  ritual,  scriptures, 
priesthood,  codes  of  morals,  rigid  discipline,  a  system 
•  of  dogmatics  in  which  all  was  made  positive  and  clear, 
that  made  the  variant  myths  and  legends  somewhat 
uniform.  The  faith  of  Shaka,  by  winning  adherents 
both  at  the  court  and  among  the  leading  men  of  intel- 
ligence, reacted  upon  the  national  traditions  so  as  to 
compel  their  collection  and  arrangement  into  definite 
formulas.  In  due  time  the  mythology,  poetry  and  rit- 
ual was,  as  we  have  seen,  committed  to  writing  and  the 
whole  system  called  Shinto,  in  distinction  from  Butsu- 
«do,  the  Way  of  the  Gods  from  the  Way  of  the  Buddh- 
;as.  Thus  we  can  see  more  clearly  the  outward  and 
visible  manifestations  of  Shinto.  In  forming  our  judg- 
ment, however,  we  must  put  aside  those  descriptions 
which  are  found  in  the  works  of  European  writers, 
from  Marco  Polo  and  Mendez  Pinto  down  to  the  year 
1870.  Though  these  were  good  observers,  they  were 
often  necessarily  mistaken  in  their  deductions.  For, 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  43 

as  we  shall  see  in  our  lecture  on  Riyobu  or  Mixed 
Buddhism,  Shinto  was,  from  the  ninth  century  until 
late  into  the  nineteenth  century,  absorbed  in  Buddh- 
ism so  as  to  be  next  to  invisible. 


Origins  of  the  Japanese  People. 

Without  detailing  processes,  but  giving  only  results, 
our  view  of  the  origin  of  the  Japanese  people  and  of 
their  religion  is  in  the  main  as  follows  : 

The  oldest  seats  of  human  habitation  in  the  Japan- 
ese Archipelago  lie  between  the  thirtieth  and  thirty- 
eighth  parallels  of  north  latitude.  South  of  the  thirty- 
fourth  parallel,  it  seems,  though  without  proof  of 
writing  or  from  tradition,  that  the  Malay  type  and 
blood  from  the  far  south  probably  predominated,  with, 
however,  much  infusion  from  the  northern  Asian  main- 
land. 

Between  the  thirty-fourth  and  thirty-sixth  parallels, 
and  west  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-eighth  meridian 
of  longitude,  may  be  found  what  is  still  the  choicest, 
richest  and  most  populous  part  of  The  Country  Be- 
tween Heaven  and  Earth.  Here  the  prevailing  ele- 
ment was  Korean  and  Tartar. 

To  the  north  and  east  of  this  fair  country  lay  the 
Emishi  savages,  or  Ainos. 

In  "the  world"  within  the  ken  of  the  prehistoric 
dwellers  in  what  is  now  the  three  islands,  Hondo,  Kiu- 
shiu  and  Shikoku,  there  was  no  island  of  Yezo  and  no 
China ;  while  Korea  was  but  slightly  known,  and  the 
lands  farther  westward  were  unheard  of  except  as  the 
home  of  distant  tribes. 

Three  distinct  lines  of  tradition  point  to  the  near 


44  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

peninsula  or  the  west  coast  of  Japan  as  the  "  Heaven  " 
whence  descended  the  tribe  which  finally  grew  to  be 
dominant.  The  islands  of  Tsushima  and  Iki  were  the 
stepping-stones  of  the  migration  out  of  which  rose 
what  may  be  called  the  southern  or  Tsukushi  cycle  of 
legend,  Tsukushi  being  the  ancient  name  of  Kiushiu. 

Idzumo  is  the  holy  land  whence  issued  the  second 
stream  of  tradition. 

The  third  course  of  myth  and  legend  leads  us  into 
Yamato,  whence  we  behold  the  conquest  of  the  Mika- 
do's home-land  and  the  extension  of  his  name  and  in- 
fluence into  the  regions  east  of  the  Hakone  Mountains, 
including  the  great  plain  of  Yedo,  where  modern  Tokio 
now  stands. 

We  shall  take  the  term  "  Yamato  "  as  the  synonym 
of  the  prehistoric  but  discernible  beginnings  of  na- 
tional life.  It  represents  the  seat  of  the  tribe  whose 
valor  and  genius  ultimately  produced  the  Mikado  sys- 
tem. It  was  through  this  house  or  tribe  that  Japan- 
ese history  took  form.  The  reverence  for  the  ruler 
long  afterward  entitled  "  Son  of  Heaven  "  is  the  strong- 
est force  in  the  national  history.  The  spirit  and  prow- 
ess of  these  early  conquerors  have  left  an  indelible 
impress  upon  the  language  and  the  mind  of  the  nation 
in  the  phrase  Yamato  Damashii — the  spirit  of  (Divine 
and  unconquerable)  Japan. 

The  story  of  the  conquest  of  the  land,  in  its  many 
phases,  recalls  that  of  the  Aryans  in  India,  of  the  He- 
brews in  Canaan,  of  the  Romans  in  Europe  and  of  the 
Germanic  races  in  North  America.  The  Yamato  men 
gradually  advanced  to  conquest  under  the  impulse,  as 
they  believed,  of  a  divine  command.9  They  were  sent 
from  Takama  -  no  -  hara,  the  High  Plain  of  Heaven. 


SH1XTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  45 

Theirs  was  the  war,  of  men  with  a  nobler  creed,  having 
agriculture  and  a  feudal  system  of  organization  which 
furnished  resources  for  long  campaigns,  against  hunt- 
ers and  fishermen.  They  had  improved  artillery  and 
used  iron  against  stone.  Yet  they  conquered  and  pac- 
ified not  only  by  superior  strategy,  tactics,  weapons 
and  valor,  but  also  by  advanced  fetiches  and  dogma. 
They  captrred  the  religion  of  their  enemies  as  well  as 
their  bodies,  lands  and  resources.  They  claimed  that 
their  ancestors  were  from  Heaven,  that  the  Sun  was 
their  kinswoman  and  that  their  chief,  or  Mikado,  was 
vicegerent  of  the  Heavenly  gods,  but  that  those  whom 
they  conquered  were  earth-born  or  sprung  from  the 
terrestrial  divinities. 

MiJcadoism  the  Heart  of  Shinto. 

As  success  came  to  their  arms  and  their  chief's  pow- 
er was  made  more  sure,  they  developed  further  the 
dogma  of  the  Mikado's  divinity  and  made  worship  cen- 
tre in  him  as  the  earthly  representative  of  the  Sun 
and  Heaven.  His  fellow-conquerors  and  ministers, 
as  fast  as  they  were  put  in  lordship  over  conquered 
provinces,  or  indigenous  chieftains  who  submitted 
obediently  to  his  sway  or  yielded  graciously  to  his 
prowess,  were  named  as  founders  of  temples  and  in  later 
generations  worshipped  and  became  gods.10  One  of 
the  motives  for,  and  one  of  the  guiding  principles  in 
the  selections  of  the  floating  myths,  was  that  the  ances- 
try of  the  chieftains  loyal  to  the  Mikado  might  be 
shown  to  be  from  the  heavenly  gods.  Both  the  narra- 
tives of  the  "Kojiki  "  and  the  liturgies  show  this  clear- 


46  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

The  nature-worship,  which  was  probably  practised 
throughout  the  whole  archipelago,  became  part  of  the 
system  as  government  and  society  were  made  uniform 
on  the  Yamato  model.  It  seems  at  least  possible,  if 
Buddhism  had  not  come  in  so  soon,  that  the  ordinary 
features  of  a  religion,  dogmatic  and  ethical  codes,  would 
have  been  developed.  In  a  word,  the  Kami  no  Michi, 
or  religion  of  the  islanders  in  prehistoric  times  before 
the  rise  of  Mikadoism,  must  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  the  politico  -  ecclesiasticism  which  the  system 
called  Shinto  reveals  and  demands.  The  early  religion, 
first  in  the  hands  of  politicians  and  later  under  the 
pens  and  voices  of  writers  and  teachers  at  the  Imperial 
Court,  became  something  very  different  from  its  origi- 
nal form.  As  surely  as  Kobo  later  captured  Shinto, 
making  material  for  Buddhism  out  of  it  and  over- 
laying it  in  Eiyobu,  so  the  Yamato  men  made  po- 
litical capital  out  of  their  own  religion  and  that  of  the 
subject  tribes.  The  divine  sovereign  of  Japan  and  his 
political  church  did  exactly  what  the  state  churches  of 
Europe,  both  pagan  and  Christian,  have  done  before 
and  since  the  Christian  era. 

Further,  in  studying  the  "  Kojiki,"  we  must  remember 
that  the  sacred  writings  sprang  out  of  the  religion,  and 
that  the  system  was  not  an  evolution  from  the  book. 
Customs,  ritual,  faith  and  prayer  existed  long  before 
they  were  written  about  or  recorded  in  ink.  More- 
over, the  philosophy  came  later  than  the  practice,  the 
deeds  before  the  myths,  and  the  joy  and  terror  of  the 
visible  universe  before  the  cosmogony  or  theogony, 
while  the  book-preface  was  probably  written  last  of  all. 

The  »un  was  first,  and  then  came  the  wonder,  admi- 
ration and  worship  of  men.  The  personification  and 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  47 

pedigree  of  the  sun  were  late  figments.  To  connect 
their  ancestors  with  the  sun-goddess  and  the  heavenly 
gods,  was  a  still  later  enterprise  of  the  "  Mikado  rev- 
erencers  "  of  this  earlier  time.  Both  the  god- way  in 
its  early  forms  and  Shinto  in  its  later  development, 
were  to  them  political  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  institutes 
of  dogma.  Both  the  religion  which  they  themselves 
brought  and  cultivated  and  the  aboriginal  religion 
which  the  Yamato  men  found,  were  used  as  engines 
in  the  making  of  Mikadoism,  which  is  the  heart  of 
Shinto. 

Not  until  two  centuries  after  the  coming  of  Buddhism 
and  of  Asiatic  civilization  did  it  occur  to  the  Japanese 
to  reduce  to  writing  the  floating  legends  and  various 
cycles  of  tradition  which  had  grown  up  luxuriantly  in 
different  parts  of  "  the  -empire,"  or  to  express  in  the 
Chinese  character  the  prayers  and  thanksgivings  which 
had  been  handed  down  orally  through  many  gener- 
ations. These  norito  had  already  assumed  elegant 
literary  form,  rich  in  poetic  merit,  long  before  Chinese 
writing  was  known.  They,  far  more  than  the  less 
certain  philosophy  of  the  "Kojiki,"  are  of  undoubted 
native  origin.  It  is  nearly  certain  that  the  prehistoric 
Japanese  did  not  borrow  the  literary  forms  of  the  god- 
way  from  China,  as  any  one  familiar  with  the  short, 
evenly  balanced  and  antithetical  sentences  of  Chinese 
style  can  see  at  once.  The  norito  are  expressions,  in 
the  rhythmical  and  rhetorical  form  of  worship,  of  the 
articles  of  faith  set  forth  in  the  historic  summary 
which  we  have  given.  We  propose  to  illustrate  the 
dogmas  by  quoting  from  the  rituals  in  Mr.  Satow's 
masterly  translation.  The  following  was  addressed  to 
the  sun-goddess  (Amaterasu  no  Mikami,  or  the  From-' 


48  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Heaven-Shining-Great-Deity)  by  the  priest-envoy  of 
the  priestly  Nakatomi  family  sent  annually  to  the 
temples  at  Ise,  the  Mecca  of  Shinto.  The  sovran  re- 
ferred to  in  the  ritual  is  the  Mikado.  This  word  and 
all  the  others  printed  in  capitals  are  so  rendered  in 
order  to  express  in  English  the  force  of  "  an  untrans- 
latable honorific  syllable,  supposed  to  be  originally 
identical  with  a  root  meaning  'true,'  but  no  longer 
possessing  that  signification."  Instead  of  the  word 
"earth,"  that  of  "country"  (Japan)  is  used  as  the  cor- 
relative of  Heaven. 


Ritual  in  Praise  of  the  Sun-goddess. 

He  (the  priest-envoy)  says  :  Hear  all  of  you,  ministers  of  the 
gods  and  sanctifiers  of  offerings,  the  great  ritual,  the  heavenly 
ritual,  declared  in  the  great  presence  of  the  From-Heaven-Shin- 
ing-Great-DEiTY,  whose  praises  are  fulfilled  by  setting  up  the 
stout  pillars  of  the  great  HOUSE,  and  exalting  the  cross-beams 
to  the  plain  of  high  heaven  at  the  sources  of  the  Isuzu  Kiver  at 
Uji  in  Watarai. 

He  says  :  It  is  the  sovran's  great  WORD.  Hear  all  of  you, 
ministers  of  the  gods  and  sanctifiers  of  offerings,  the  fulfilling 
of  praises  on  this  seventeenth  day  of  the  sixth  moon  of  this 
year,  as  the  morning  sun  goes  up  in  glory,  of  the  Oho-Naka- 
tomi,  who— having  abundantly  piled  up  like  a  range  of  hills 
the  TRIBUTE  thread  and  sanctified,  LIQUOR  and  FOOD  pre- 
sented as  of  usage  by  the  people  of  the  deity's  houses  attributed 
to  her  in  the  three  departments  and  in  various  countries  and 
places,  so  that  she  deign  to  bless  his  [the  Mikado's]  LIFE  as  a 
long  LIFF,  and  his  AGE  as  a  luxuriant  AGE  eternally  and  un- 
changingly as  multitudinous  piles  of  rock;  may  deign  to  bless 
the  CHILDREN  who  are  born  to  him,  and  deigning  to  cause 
to  flourish  the  five  kinds  of  grain  which  the  men  of  a  hundred 
functions  and  the  peasants  of  the  countries  in  the  four  quarters 
of  the  region  under  heaven  long  and  peacefully  cultivate  and 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  49 

eat,  and  guarding  and  benefiting  them  to  deign  to  bless  them 
— is  hidden  by  the  great  ofteiing-wands. 

In  the  Imperial  City  the  ritual  services  were  very 
imposing.  Those  in  expectation  of  the  harvest  were 
held  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Jin-Gi-Kuan,  or  Council  of 
the  Gods  of  Heaven  and  Earth.  The  description  of 
the  ceremonial  is  given  by  Mr.  Satow.11  In  the  prayers 
offered  to  the  sun-goddess  for  harvest,  and  in  thanks- 
giving to  her  for  bestowing  dominion  over  land  and 
sea  upon  her  descendant  the  Mikado,  occurs  the  fol- 
lowing passage : 

I  declare  in  the  great  presence  of  the  From-Heaven-Shining- 
Great-DEiTY  who  sits  in  Ise.  Because  the  sovran  great  GODDESS 
bestows  on  him  the  countries  of  the  four  quarters  over  which 
her  glance  extends,  as  far  as  the  limit  where  heaven  stands  up 
like  a  wall,  as  far  as  the  bounds  where  the  country  stands  up 
distant,  as  far  as  the  limit  where  the  blue  clouds  spread  flat,  as 
far  as  the  bounds  where  the  white  clouds  lie  away  fallen — the 
blue  sea  plain  as  far  as  the  limit  whither  come  the  prows  of  the 
ships  without  drying  poles  or  paddles,  the  ships  which  continu- 
ously crowd  on  the  great  sea  plain,  and  the  road  which  men 
travel  by  land,  as  far  as  the  limit  whither  come  the  horses'  hoofs, 
with  the  baggage-cords  tied  tightly,  treading  the  uneven  rocks 
and  tree-roots  and  standing  up  continuously  in  a  long  path  with- 
out a  break— making  the  narrow  countries  wide  arid  the  hilly 
countries  plain,  and  as  it  were  drawing  together  the  distant 
countries  by  throwing  many  tens  of  ropes  over  them — he  will 
pile  up  the  first-fruits  like  a  range  of  hills  in  the  great  presence 
of  the  sovran  great  GODDESS,  and  will  peacefully  enjoy  the  re- 
mainder. 

Phallic  Symbols. 

To  form  one's  impression  of  the  Kami  no  Michi 
wholly  from  the  poetic  liturgies,  the  austere  simplicity 
of  the  miyas  or  shrines,  or  the  worship  at  the  palace  or 


50  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

capital,  would  be  as  misleading  as  to  gather  our  ideas 
of  the  status  of  popular  education  from  knowing  only 
of  the  scholars  at  court.  Among  the  common  people 
the  real  basis  of  the  god-way  was  ancestor-worship. 
From  the  very  first  this  trait  and  habit  of  the  Japan- 
ese can  be  discerned.  Their  tenacity  in  holding  to  it 
made  the  Confucian  ethics  more  welcome  when  they 
came.  Furthermore,  this  reverence  for  the  dead  pro- 
foundly influenced  and  modified  Buddhism,  so  that  to- 
day the  altars  of  both  religions  exist  in  the  same  house, 
the  dead  ancestors  becoming  both  kami  and  buddhas. 

Modern  taste  has  removed  from  sight  what  were 
once  the  common  people's  symbols  of  the  god-way, 
that  is  of  ancestor  worship.  The  extent  of  the  phallus 
cult  and  its  close  and  even  vital  connection  with  the 
god- way,  and  the  general  and  innocent  use  of  the  now 
prohibited  emblems,  tax  severely  the  credulity  of  the 
Occidental  reader.  The  processes  of  the  ancient  mind 
can  hardly  be  understood  except  by  vigorous  power  of 
the  imagination  and  by  sympathy  with  the  primeval 
man.  To  the  critical  student,  however,  who  has  lived 
among  the  people  and  the  temples  devoted  to  this  wor- 
ship, who  knows  how  innocent  and  how  truly  sincere 
and  even  reverent  and  devout  in  the  use  of  these  sym- 
bols the  worshippers  are,  the  matter  is  measurably 
clear.  He  can  understand  the  soil,  root  and  flower 
even  while  the  most  strange  specimen  is  abhorrent  to 
his  taste,  and  while  he  is  most  active  in  destroying 
that  mental  climate  in  which  such  worship,  whether 
native  or  exotic,  can  exist  and  flourish. 

In  none  of  the  instances  in  which  I  have  been  eye- 
witness of  the  cult,  of  the  person  officiating  or  of  the 
emblem,  have  I  had  any  reason  to  doubt  the  sincerity 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  51 

of  the  worshipper.  I  have  never  had  reason  to  look 
upon  the  implements  or  the  system  as  anything  else 
than  the  endeavor  of  man  to  solve  the  mystery  of  Be- 
ing and  Power.  In  making  use  of  these  emblems,  the 
Japanese  worshipper  simply  professes  his  faith  in  such 
solution  as  has  seemed  to  him  attainable. 

That  this  cultus  was  quite  general  in  pre-Buddhis- 
tic  Japan,  as  in  many  other  ancient  countries,  is  cer- 
tain from  the  proofs  of  language,  literature,  external 
monuments  and  relics  which  are  sufficiently  numerous. 
Its  organic  connection  with  the  god-way  may  be  clearly 
shown. 

To  go  farther  back  in  point  of  time  than  the  "  Kojiki," 
we  find  that  even  before  the  development  of  art  in  very 
ancient  Japan,  the  male  gods  were  represented  by  a 
symbol  which  thus  became  an  image  of  the  deity  him- 
self. This  token  was  usually  made  of  stone,  though 
often  of  wood,  and  in  later  times  of  terra-cotta,  of  cast 
and  wrought  iron  and  even  of  gold.12 

Under  the  direct  influence  of  such  a  cult,  other  ob- 
jects appealed  to  the  imagination  or  served  the  tempo- 
rary purpose  of  the  worshipper  as  ex-voto  to  hang  up 
in  the  shrines,  such  as  the  mushroom,  awabi,  various 
other  shells  and  possibly  the  fire-drill.  It  is  only  in 
the  decay  of  the  cultus,  in  the  change  of  view  and 
centre  of  thought  compelled  by  another  religion,  that 
representations  of  the  old  emblems  ally  themselves 
with  sensualism  or  immorality.  It  is  that  natural 
degradation  of  one  man's  god  into  another  man's 
devil,  which  conversion  must  almost  of  necessity  bring, 
that  makes  the  once  revered  symbol  "obscene,"  and 
talk  about  it  become,  in  a  descending  scale,  dirty,  foul, 
filthy,  nasty.  That  the  Japanese  suffer  from  the  moral 


52  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

effluvia  of  a  decayed  cult  which  was  once  as  the  very 
vertebral  column  of  the  national  body  of  religion,  is 
evident  to  every  one  who  acquaints  himself  with  their 
popular  speech  and  literature. 

How  closely  and  directly  phallicism  is  connected 
with  the  god-way,  and  why  there  were  so  many  Shinto 
temples  devoted  to  this  latter  cult  and  furnished  with 
symbols,  is  shown  by  study  of  the  "  Kojiki."  The  two 
opening  sections  of  this  book  treat  of  kami  that  were 
in  the  minds  even  of  the  makers  of  the  myths  little 
more  than  mud  and  water13 — the  mere  bioplasm  of 
deity.  The  seven  divine  generations  are  "  born,"  but 
do  nothing  except  that  they  give  Izanagi  and  Izanami 
a  jewelled  spear.  With  this  pair  come  differentiation 
of  sex.  It  is  immediately  on  the  apparition  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  sex  that  motion,  action  and  creation 
begin,  and  the  progress  of  things  visible  ensues.  The 
details  cannot  be  put  into  English,  but  it  is  enough,  be- 
sides noting  the  conversation  and  union  of  the  pair,  to 
say  that  the  term  meaning  giving  birth  to,  refers  to 
inanimate  as  well  as  animate  things.  It  is  used  in 
reference  to  the  islands  which  compose  the  archipelago 
as  well  as  to  the  various  kami  which  seem,  in  many 
cases,  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  names  of  things  or 
places. 

Fire-myths  and  Ritual. 

Fire  is,  in  a  sense,  the  foundation  and  first  necessity 
of  civilization,  and  it  is  interesting  to  study  the  myths 
as  to  the  origin  of  fire,  and  possibly  even  more  interest- 
ing to  compare  the  Greek  and  Japanese  stories.  As  we 
know,  old-time  popular  etymology  makes  Prometheus 
the  fore-thinker  and  brother  of  Epimetheus  the  after- 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  53 

thinker.  He  is  the  stealer  of  the  fire  from  heaven,  in 
order  to  make  men  share  the  secret  of  the  gods.  Com- 
parative philology  tells  us,  however,  that  the  Sanskrit 
Pramantha  is  a  stick  that  produces  fire.  The  "  Kojiki " 
does  indeed  contain  what  is  probably  the  later  form  of 
the  fire-myth  about  two  brothers,  Prince  Fire-Shine 
and  Fire-Fade,  which  suggests  both  the  later  Greek 
myth  of  the  fore-  and  after-thinker  and  a  tradition 
of  a  flood.  The  first,  and  most  probably  older,  myth 
in  giving  the  origin  of  fire  does  it  in  true  Japanese 
style,  with  details  of  parturition.  After  numerous  other 
deities  had  been  born  of  Izanagi  and  Izanami,  it  is 
said  "  that  they  gave  birth  to  the  Fire-Burning-Swift- 
Male-Deity,  another  name  for  whom  is  the  Deity- 
Fire-Shining-Prince,  and  another  name  is  the  Deity- 
Fire-Shining-Elder."  In  the  other  ancient  literature 
this  fire-god  is  called  Ho-musubi,  the  Fire-Producer. 

Izanami  yielded  up  her  life  upon  the  birth  of  her 
son,  the  fire-god ;  or,  as  the  sacred  text  declares,  she 
"divinely  retired"14  into  Hades.  From  her  corpse 
sprang  up  the  pairs  of  gods  of  clay,  of  metal,  and  other 
kami  that  possessed  the  potency  of  calming  or  subdu- 
ing fire,  for  clay  resists  and  water  extinguishes.  Be- 
tween the  mythical  and  the  liturgical  forms  of  the 
original  narrative  there  is  considerable  variation. 

The  Norito  entitled  the  "  Quieting  of  Fire "  gives 
the  ritual  form  of  the  myth.  It  contains,  like  so  many 
Norito,  less  the  form  of  prayer  to  the  Fire-Producer 
than  a  promise  of  offerings.  Not  so  much  by  petitions 
as  by  the  inducements  of  gifts  did  the  ancient  worship- 
pers hope  to  save  the  palace  of  the  Mikado  from  the 
fire-god's  wrath.  We  omit  from  the  text  those  details 
which  are  offensive  to  modern  and  western  taste. 


54  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

I  declare  with  the  great  ritual,  the  heavenly  ritual,  which  was 
bestowed  on  him  at  the  time  when,  by  the  WORD  of  the  Sovran's 
dear  progenitor  and  progenitrix,  who  divinely  remain  in  the 
plain  of  high  heaven,  they  bestowed  on  him  the  region  under 
heaven,  saying : 

"Let  the  Sovran  GRANDCHILD'S  augustness  tranquilly  rule 
over  the  country  of  fresh  spikes  which  flourishes  in  the  midst 
of  the  reed-moor  as  a  peaceful  region." 

When  .  .  .  Izanami  .  .  .  had  deigned  to  bear  the  many 
hundred  myriads  of  gods,  she  also  deigned  to  bear  her  dear 
youngest  child  of  all,  the  Fire-producer  god,  .  .  .  and  said  : 

" .  .  .  My  dear  elder  brother's  augustness  shall  rule  the 
upper  country ;  I  will  rule  the  lower  country,"  she  deigned  to 
hide  in  the  rocks ;  and  having  come  to  the  flat  hills  of  darkness, 
she  thought  and  said  :  "I  have  come  hither,  having  borne  and 
left  a  bad-hearted  child  in  the  upper  country,  ruled  over  by  my 
illustrious  elder  brother's  augustness,"  and  going  back  she  bore 
other  children.  Having  borne  the  water-goddess,  the  gourd, 
the  river-weed,  and  the  clay-hill  maiden,  four  sorts  of  things, 
she  taught  them  with  words,  and  made  them  to  know,  saying : 
"  If  the  heart  of  this  bad-hearted  child  becomes  violent,  let  the 
water-goddess  take  the  gourd,  and  the  clay-hill  maiden  take  the 
river-weed,  and  pacify  him." 

In  consequence  of  this  I  fulfil  his  praises,  and  say  that  for 
the  things  set  up,  so  that  he  may  deign  not  to  be  awfully  quick 
of  heart  in  the  great  place  of  the  Sovran  GRANDCHILD'S  august- 
ness, there  are  provided  bright  cloth,  glittering  cloth,  soft 
cloth,  and  coarse  cloth,  and  the  five  kinds  of  things;  as  to 
things  which  dwell  in  the  blue-sea  plain,  there  are  things  wide 
of  fin  and  narrow  of  fin,  down  to  the  weeds  of  the  shore ;  as  to 
LIQUOR,  raising  high  the  beer-jars,  filling  and  ranging  in  rows 
the  bellies  of  the  beer- jars,  piling  the  offerings  up,  even  to  rice 
in  grain  and  rice  in  ear,  like  a  range  of  hills,  I  fulfil  his  praises 
with  the  great  ritual,  the  heavenly  ritual. 

Izanagi,  after  shedding  tears  over  his  consort,  whose 
death  was  caused  by  the  birth  of  the  fire-god,  slays  the 
fire-god,  and  follows  her  into  the  Root-land,  or  Hades, 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  55 

whereupon  begins  another  round  of  wonderful  stories 
of  the  birth  of  many  gods.  Among  these,  though 
evidently  out  of  another  cycle  of  legends,  is  the  story 
of  the  birth  of  the  three  gods — Fire-Shine,  Fire  Climax 
and  Fire-Fade,  to  which  we  have  already  referred. 

The  fire-drill  mentioned  in  the  "  Kojiki "  suggests 
easily  the  same  line  of  thought  with  the  myths  of  cos- 
mogony and  theogony,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
this  archaic  implement  is  still  used  at  the  sacred  tem- 
ples of  Ise  to  produce  fire.  After  the  virgin  priestesses 
perform  the  sacred  dances  in  honor  of  local  deities 
the  water  for  their  bath  is  heated  by  fires  kindled  by 
heaps  of  old  Jiarai  or  amulets  made  from  temple-wood 
bought  at  the  Mecca  of  Japan.  It  is  even  probable 
that  the  retention  of  the  fire-drill  in  the  service  of 
Shinto  is  but  a  survival  of  phallicism. 

The  liturgy  for  the  pacification  of  the  gods  of  fire  is 
worth  noticing.  The  full  form  of  the  ritual,  when 
compared  with  a  legend  in  the  "  Nihongi,"  shows  that 
a  myth  was  "  partly  devised  to  explain  the  connection 
of  an  hereditary  family  of  priests  with  the  god  whose 
shrine  they  served  ;  it  is  possible  that  the  claim  to  be 
directly  descended  from  the  god  had  been  disputed.15 
The  Norito  first  recites  poetically  the  descent  of  Nini- 
gi,  the  grandchild  of  the  sun-goddess  from  heaven, 
and  the  quieting  of  the  turbulent  kami. 

I  (the  diviner),  declare:  When  by  the  WOKD  of  the  progen- 
itor and  progenitrix,  who  divinely  remaining  in  the  plain  of 
high  heaven,  deigned  to  make  the  beginning  of  things,  they 
divinely  deigned  to  assemble  the  many  hundred  myriads  of 
gods  in  the  high  city  of  heaven,  and  deigned  divinely  to  take 
counsel  in  council,  saying  :  "  When  we  cause  our  Sovran  GBAND- 
CHILD'S  augustness  to  leave  heaven's  eternal  seat,  to  cleave  a 


56  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

path  with  might  through  heaven's  manifold  clouds,  and  to  de- 
scend from  heaven,  with  orders  tranquilly  to  rule  the  country  of 
fresh  spikes,  which  flourishes  in  the  midst  of  the  reed-moor  as 
a  peaceful  country,  what  god  shall  we  send  first  to  divinely 
sweep  away,  sweep  away  and  subdue  the  gods  who  are  turbu- 
lent in  the  country  of  fresh  spikes ; "  all  the  gods  pondered 
and  declared  :  "You  shall  send  Amenohohi's  augustness,  and 
subdue  them,"  declared  they.  Wherefore  they  sent  him  down 
from  heaven,  but  he  did  not  declare  an  answer ;  and  having 
next  sent  Takemikuma's  augustness,  he  also,  obeying  his  fa- 
ther's words,  did  not  declare  an  answer.  Ame  no-waka-hiko 
also,  whom  they  sent,  did  not  declare  an  answer,  but  imme- 
diately perished  by  the  calamity  of  a  bird  on  high.  Wherefore 
they  pondered  afresh  by  the  WORD  of  the  heavenly  gods,  and 
having  deigned  to  send  down  from  heaven  the  two  pillars  of 
gods,  Futsunushi  and  TakSmika-dzuchi's  augustness,  who  hav- 
ing deigned  divinely  to  sweep  away,  and  sweep  away,  and 
deigned  divinely  to  soften,  and  soften  the  gods  who  were  tur- 
bulent, and  silenced  the  rocks,  trees,  and  the  least  leaf  of 
herbs  likewise  that  had  spoken,  they  caused  the  Sovran  GRAND- 
CHILD'S augustness  to  descend  from  heaven. 

I  fulfil  your  praises,  saying  :  As  to  the  OFFERINGS  set  up,  so 
that  the  sovran  gods  who  come  into  the  heavenly  HOUSE  of  the 
Sovran  GRANDCHILD'S  augustness,  which,  after  he  had  fixed 
upon  as  a  peaceful  country — the  country  of  great  Yamato  where 
the  sun  is  high,  as  the  centre  of  the  countries  of  the  four  quar- 
ters bestowed  upon  him  when  he  was  thus  sent  down  from 
heaven — stoutly  planting  the  HousE-pillars  on  the  bottom-most 
rocks,  and  exalting  the  cross-beams  to  the  plain  of  high  heaven, 
the  builders  had  made  for  his  SHADE  from  the  heavens  and 
SHADE  from  the  sun,  and  wherein  he  will  tranquilly  rule  the 
country  as  a  peaceful  country — may,  without  deigning  to  be 
turbulent,  deigning  to  be  fierce,  and  deigning  to  hurt,  knowing, 
by  virtue  of  their  divinity,  the  things  which  were  begun  in  the 
plain  of  high  heaven,  deigning  to  correct  with  Divine-correct- 
ing and  Great-correcting,  remove  hence  out  to  the  clean  places 
of  the  mountain -streams  which  look  far  away  over  the  four 
quarters,  and  rule  them  as  their  own  place.  Let  the  Sovran 
gods  tranquilly  take  with  clear  HEARTS,  as  peaceful  OFFERINGS 


SHINTO:  MYTHS  AND  RITUAL  57 

and  sufficient  OFFERINGS  the  great  OFFERINGS  which  I  set  up, 
piling  them  upon  the  tables  like  a  range  of  hills,  providing 
bright  cloth,  glittering  cloth,  soft  cloth,  and  coarse  cloth  ;  as  a 
thing  to  see  plain  in — a  mirror :  as  things  to  play  with — beads  : 
as  things  to  shoot  off  with — a  bow  and  arrows  :  as  a  thing  to 
strike  and  cut  with — a  sword  :  as  a  thing  which  gallops  out — a 
horse ;  as  to  LIQUOR — raising  high  the  beer  jars,  filling  and 
ranging  in  rows  the  bellies  of  the  beer-jars,  with  grains  of  rice 
and  ears  ;  as  to  the  things  which  dwell  in  the  hills — things  soft 
of  hair,  and  things  rough  of  hair  ;  as  to  the  things  which  grow 
in  the  great  field  plain — sweet  herbs  and  bitter  herbs;  as  to 
the  things  which  dwell  in  the  blue  sea  plain — things  broad  of 
fin  and  things  narrow  of  fin,  down  to  weeds  of  the  offing  and 
weeds  of  the  shore,  and  without  deigning  to  be  turbulent, 
deigning  to  be  fierce,  and  deigning  to  hurt,  remove  out  to  the 
wide  and  clean  places  of  the  mountain-streams,  and  by  virtue 
of  their  divinity  be  tranquil. 

In  this  ritual  we  find  the  origin  of  evil  attributed  to 
wicked  kami,  or  gods.  To  get  rid  of  them  is  to  be 
free  from  the  troubles  of  life.  The  object  of  the  ritual 
worship  was  to  compel  the  turbulent  and  malevolent 
kami  to  go  out  from  human  habitations  to  the  moun- 
tain solitudes  and  rest  there.  The  dogmas  of  both 
god-possession  and  of  the  power  of  exorcism  were  not, 
however,  held  exclusively  by  the  high  functionaries  of 
the  official  religion,  but  were  part  of  the  faith  of  all  the 
people.  To  this  day  both  the  tenets  and  the  practices 
are  popular  under  various  forms. 

Besides  the  twenty -seven  Norito  which  are  found  in 
the  Yengishiki,  published  at  the  opening  of  the  tenth 
century,  there  are  many  others  composed  for  single 
occasions.  Examples  of  these  are  found  in  the  Govern- 
ment Gazettes.  One  celebrates  the  Mikado's  removal 
from  Kioto  to  Tokio,  another  was  written  and  recited 
to  add  greater  solemnity  to  the  oath  which  he  took  to 


58  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

govern  according  to  modern  liberal  principles  and  to 
form  a  national  parliament.  To  those  Japanese  whose 
first  idea  of  duty  is  loyalty  to  the  emperor,  Shinto 
thus  becomes  a  system  of  patriotism  exalted  to  the 
rank  of  a  religion.  Even  Christian  natives  of  Japan 
can  use  much  of  the  phraseology  of  the  Norito  while 
addressing  their  petitions  on  behalf  of  their  chief 
magistrate  to  the  King  of  kings. 

The  primitive  worship  of  the  sun,  of  light,  of  fire, 
has  left  its  impress  upon  the  language  and  in  vernacu- 
lar art  and  customs.  Among  scores  of  derivations  of 
Japanese  words  (often  more  pleasing  than  scientific), 
in  which  the  general  term  hi  enters,  is  that  which  finds 
in  the  word  for  man,  Mto,  the  meaning  of  "  light- 
bearer."  On  the  face  of  the  broad  terminal  tiles  of 
the  house-roofs,  we  still  see  moulded  the  river-weed, 
with  which  the  Clay-Hill  Maiden  pacified  the  Fire- 
God.  On  the  frontlet  of  the  warrior's  helmet,  in  the 
old  days  of  arrow  and  armor,  glittered  in  brass  on 
either  side  of  his  crest  the  same  symbol  of  power  and 
victory. 

Having  glanced  at  the  ritual  of  Shinto,  let  us  now 
examine  the  teachings  of  its  oldest  book. 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND   ITS  TEACHINGS 


41  Japan  is  not  a  land  where  men  need  pray, 

For  'tis  itself  divine : 
Yet  do  I  lift  my  voice  in  prayer.     .     .     ." 

Hitomaro,  t  A.D.  737. 

"  Now  when  chaos  had  begun  to  condense,  but  force  and  form  were  not 
yet  manifest,  and  there  was  naught  named,  naught  done,  who  could  know 
its  shape  ?  Nevertheless  Heaven  and  Earth  first  parted,  and  the  three  Dei- 
ties performed  the  commencement  of  creation  ;  the  Passive  and  Active  Es- 
sences then  developed,  and  the  Two  Spirits  became  the  ancestors  of  all 
things." — Preface  of  Yasumaro  (A.D.  712)  to  the  "Kojiki." 

u  These,  the  "  Kojiki '  and  c  Nihongi '  are  their  [the  Shintoists]  canonical 
books,  .  .  .  and  almost  their  every  word  is  considered  undeniable  truth." 

14  The  Shinto  faith  teaches  that  God  inspired  the  foundation  of  the  Mi- 
kadoate,  and  that  it  is  therefore  sacred." — Kaburagi. 

"  We  now  reverently  make  our  prayer  to  Them  [Our  Imperial  Ancestors] 
and  to  our  Illustrious  Father  [Komei,  t 1867],  and  implore  the  help  of  Their 
Sacred  Spirits,  and  make  to  Them  solemn  oath  never  at  this  time  nor  in 
the  future  to  fail  to  be  an  example  to  Our  subjects  in  the  observance  of  the 
Law  [Constitution]  hereby  established."— Imperial  oath  of  the  Emperor 
Mutsuhito  in  the  sanctuary  in  the  Imperial  Palace,  Tokio,  February  11, 
1889. 

"Shinto  is  not  our  national  religion  A  faith  existed  before  it,  which 
was  its  source.  It  grew  out  of  superstitious  teaching  and  mistaken  tradi- 
tion. The  history  of  the  rise  of  Shinto  proves  this." — T.  Matsugami. 

il  Makoto  wo  mote  KAMI  NO  MICHI  wo  oshiyureba  nari."  (Thou  teachest 
the  way  of  God  in  truth.)— Mark  xii.  14. 

u  Ware  wa  MICHI  nari,  Makoto  nari,  Inochi  nari."— John  xiv.  6.— The 
New  Testament  in  Japanese. 


CHAPTEE  in 

"THE  KOJIKI"   AND   ITS   TEACHINGS 

"  The  Kojiki "  and  its  Myths  of  Cosmogony 

As  to  the  origin  of  the  "Kojiki,"  we  have  in  the  clos- 
ing sentences  of  the  author's  preface  the  sole  documen- 
tary authority  explaining  its  scope  and  certifying  to 
its  authenticity.  Briefly  the  statement  is  this :  The 
"  Heavenly  Sovereign "  or  Mikado,  Temmu  (A.D.  673- 
686),  lamenting  that  the  records  possessed  by  the  chief 
families  were  "  mostly  amplified  by  empty  falsehoods," 
and  fearing  that  "  the  grand  foundation  of  the  mon- 
archy" would  be  destroyed,  resolved  to  preserve  the 
truth.  He  therefore  had  the  records  carefully  exam- 
ined, compared,  and  their  errors  eliminated.  There 
happened  to  be  in  his  household  a  man  of  marvellous 
memory,  named  Hiyeda  Are,  who  could  repeat,  with- 
out mistake,  the  contents  of  any  document  he  had  ever 
seen,  and  never  forgot  anything  which  he  had  heard. 
This  person  was  duly  instructed  in  the  genuine  tra- 
ditions and  old  language  of  former  ages,  and  made  to 
repeat  them  until  he  had  the  whole  by  heart.  "Before 
the  undertaking  was  completed,"  which  probably  means 
before  it  could  be  committed  to  writing,  "  the  emperor 
died,  and  for  twenty-five  years  Are's  memory  was  the 
sole  depository  of  what  afterwards  received  the  title  of 
*  Kojiki.'  ...  At  the  end  of  this  interval  the  Em- 


62  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

press  Gemmio  ordered  Yasumaro  to  write  it  down  from 
the  mouth  of  Are,  which  accounts  for  the  completion 
of  the  manuscript  in  so  short  a  time  as  four  months 
andahalf,"1inA.D.  712. 

It  is  from  the  "Kojiki"  that  we  obtain  most  of  our 
ideas  of  ancient  life  and  thought.  The  "  Nihongi,"  or 
Chronicles  of  Japan,  expressed  very  largely  in  Chinese 
phrases  and  with  Chinese  technical  and  philosophical 
terms,  further  assists  us  to  get  a  measurably  correct 
idea  of  what  is  called  The  Divine  Age.  Of  the  two 
books,  however,  the  "  Kojiki "  is  much  more  valuable  as  a 
true  record,  because,  though  rude  in  style  and  exceed- 
ingly naive  in  expression,  and  by  no  means  free  from 
Chinese  thoughts  and  phrases,  it  is  marked  by  a  genu- 
inely Japanese  cast  of  thought  and  method  of  compo- 
sition. Instead  of  the  terse,  carefully  measured,  bal- 
anced, and  antithetical  sentences  of  correct  Chinese, 
those  of  the  "  Kojiki"  are  long  and  involved,  and  without 
much  logical  connection.  The  "  Kojiki "  contains  the  real 
notions,  feelings,  and  beliefs  of  Japanese  who  lived  be- 
fore the  eighth  century. 

Kemembering  that  prefaces  are,  like  porticos,  usually 
added  last  of  all,  we  find  that  in  the  beginning  all 
things  were  in  chaos.  Heaven  and  earth  were  not  sep- 
arated. The  world  substance  floated  in  the  cosmic 
mass,  like  oil  on  water  or  a  fish  in  the  sea.  Motion  in 
some  way  began.  The  ethereal  portions  sublimed  and 
formed  the  heavens ;  the  heavier  residuum  became  the 
present  earth.  In  the  plain  of  high  heaven,  when  the 
heaven  and  earth  began,  were  born  three  kami  who 
"  hid  their  bodies,"  that  is,  passed  away  or  died.  Out 
of  the  warm  mould  of  the  earth  a  germ  sprouted,  and 
from  this  were  born  two  kami,  who  also  were  born 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         63 

alone,  and  died.  After  these  heavenly  kami  came  forth 
what  are  called  the  seven  divine  generations,  or  line 
of  seven  kami.* 

To  express  the  opening  lines  of  the  "  Kojiki "  in  terms 
of  our  own  speech  and  in  the  moulds  of  Western 
thought,  we  may  say  that  matter  existed  before  mind 
and  the  gods  came  forth,  as  it  were,  by  spontaneous 
evolution.  The  first  thing  that  appeared  out  of  the 
warm  earth-muck  was  like  a  rush-sprout,  and  this  be- 
came a  kami,  or  god.  From  this  being  came  forth 
others,  which  also  produced  beings,  until  there  were 
perfect  bodies,  sex  and  differentiation  of  powers.  The 
"Nihongi,"  however,  not  only  gives  a  different  view  of 
this  evolution  basing  it  upon  the  dualism  of  Chinese 
philosophy — that  is,  of  the  active  and  passive  prin- 
ciples— and  uses  Chinese  technical  terminology,  but 
gives  lists  of  kami  that  differ  notably  from  those  in 
the  "  Kojiki."  This  latter  fact  seems  to  have  escaped 
the  attention  of  those  who  write  freely  about  what 
they  imagine  to  be  the  early  religion  of  the  Japanese.3 

After  this  introduction,  in  which  "Dualities,  Trini- 
ties, and  Supreme  Deities "  have  been  discovered  by 
writers  unfamiliar  with  the  genius  of  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage, there  follows  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
habitable  earth  by  Izanami  and  Izanagi,  whose  names 
mean  the  Male  -  Who  -  Invites  and  the  Female- Who- 
Invites.  The  heavenly  kami  commanded  these  two 
gods  to  consolidate  and  give  birth  to  the  drifting 
land.  Standing  on  the  floating  bridge  of  heaven, 
the  male  plunged  his  jewel-spear  into  the  unstable 
waters  beneath,  stirring  them  until  they  gurgled  and 
congealed.  When  he  drew  forth  the  spear,  the  drops 
trickling  from  its  point  formed  an  island,  ever  after- 


64  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ward  called  Onokoro-jima,  or  the  Island  of  the  Con- 
gealed Drop.  Upon  this  island  they  descended.  The 
creative  pair,  or  divine  man  and  woman,  now  sepa- 
rated to  make  a  journey  round  the  island,  the  male  to 
the  left,  the  female  to  the  right.  At  their  meeting 
the  female  spoke  first :  "  How  joyful  to  meet  a  love- 
ly man  ! "  The  male,  offended  that  the  woman  had 
spoken  first,  required  the  circuit  to  be  repeated.  On 
their  second  meeting,  the  man  cried  out :  "  How  joyful 
to  meet  a  lovely  woman !  "  This  island  on  which  they 
had  descended  was  the  first  of  several  which  they 
brought  into  being.  In  poetry  it  is  the  Island  of  the 
Congealed  Drop.  In  common  geography  it  is  identi- 
fied as  Awaji,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Inland  Sea. 
Thence  followed  the  creation  of  the  other  visible  ob- 
jects in  nature. 

Izanagi's  Visit  to  Hades  and  Results. 
After  the  birth  of  the  god  of  fire,  which  nearly  de- 
stroyed the  mother's  life,  Izanami  fled  to  the  land  of 
roots  or  of  darkness,  that  is  into  Hades.  Izanagi,  lite 
a  true  Orpheus,  followed  his  Eurydice  and  beseeched 
her  to  come  back  to  earth  to  complete  with  him  the 
work  of  creation.  She  parleyed  so  long  with  the  gods 
of  the  underworld  that  her  consort,  breaking  off  a 
tooth  of  his  comb,  lighted  it  as  a  torch  and  rushed  in. 
He  found  her  putrefied  body,  out  of  which  had  been 
born  the  eight  gods  of  thunder.  Horrified  at  the  aw- 
ful foulness  which  he  found  in  the  underworld,  he 
rushed  up  and  out,  pursued  by  the  Ugly-Female-of- 
Hades.  By  artifices  that  bear  a  wonderful  resem- 
blance to  those  in  Teutonic  fairy  tales,  he  blocked  up 
the  way.  His  head-dress?  thrown  at  his  pursuer, 


"  THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS          65 

turned  into  grapes  which  she  stopped  to  eat.  The 
teeth  of  his  comb  sprouted  into  a  bamboo  forest,  which 
detained  her.  The  three  peaches  were  used  as  pro- 
jectiles ;  his  staff  which  stuck  up  in  the  ground  became 
a  gate,  and  a  mighty  rock  was  used  to  block  up  the 
narrow  pass  through  the  mountains.  Each  of  these 
objects  has  its  relation  to  place-names  in  Idzumo  or 
to  superstitions  that  are  still  extant.  The  peaches  and 
the  rocks  became  gods,  and  on  this  incident,  by  which 
the  beings  in  Hades  were  prevented  from  advance  and 
successful  mischief  on  earth,  is  founded  one  of  the  no- 
rito  which  Mr.  Satow  gives  in  condensed  form.  The 
names  of  the  three  gods,4  Youth  and  Maiden  of  the 
Many  Eoad-forkings,  and  Come-no-further  Gate,  are 
expressed  and  invoked  in  the  praises  bestowed  on  them 
in  connection  with  the  offerings. 

He  (the  priest)  says :  I  declare  in  the  presence  of  the  sovran 
gods,  who  like  innumerable  piles  of  rocks  sit  closing  up  the 
way  in  the  multitudinous  road-forkings  ...  I  fulfil  your 
praises  by  declaring  your  NAMES,  Youth  and  Maiden  of  the 
Many  Eoad-forkings  and  Come-no-further  Gate,  and  say  :  for 
the  OFFERINGS  set  up  that  you  may  prevent  [the  servants  of  the 
monarch]  from  being  poisoned  by  and  agreeing  with  the  things 
which  shall  come  roughly-acting  and  hating  from  the  Root- 
country,  the  Bottom-country,  that  you  may  guard  the  bottom 
(of  the  gate)  when  they  come  from  the  bottom,  guard  the 
top  when  they  come  from  the  top,  guarding  with  nightly 
guard  and  with  daily  guard,  and  may  praise  them  —  peace- 
fully take  the  great  OFFERINGS  which  are  set  up  by  pil- 
ing them  up  like  a  range  of  hills,  that  is  to  say,  provid- 
ing bright  cloth,  etc.,  .  .  .  and  sitting  closing-up  the 
way  like  innumerable  piles  of  rock  in  the  multitudinous  road- 
forkings,  deign  to  praise  the  sovran  GRANDCHILD'S  augustness 
eternally  and  unchangingly,  and  to  bless  his  age  as  a  lux- 
uriant AGE. 

5 


66  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Retreating  to  another  part  of  the  world — that  is,  into 
southwestern  Japan — Izanami  purified  himself  by  bath- 
ing in  a  stream.  While  washing  himself,5  many  ka- 
mi  were  born  from  the  rinsings  of  his  person,  one  of 
them,  from  the  left  eye  (the  left  in  Japanese  is  always 
the  honorable  side),  being  the  far-shining  or  heaven- 
illuminating  kami,  whose  name,  Amaterasu,  or  Heaven- 
shiner,  is  usually  translated  "  The  Sun-goddess."  This 
personage  is  the  centre  of  the  system  of  Shinto.  The 
creation  of  gods  by  a  process  of  cleansing  has  had  a 
powerful  effect  on  the  Japanese,  who  usually  associate 
cleanliness  of  the  body  (less  moral,  than  physical)  with 
godliness. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  detail  further  the  various 
stories  which  make  up  the  Japanese  mythology.  Some 
of  these  are  lovely  and  beautiful,  but  others  are  hor- 
rible and  disgusting,  while  the  dominant  note  through- 
out is  abundant  filthiness. 

Professor  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain,  who  has  done  the 
world  such  good  service  in  translating  into  English  the 
whole  of  the  Kojiki,  and  furnishing  it  with  learned 
commentary  and  notes,  has  well  said : 

"The  shocking  obscenity  of  word  and  act  to  which  the 
'Records'  bear  witness  is  another  ugly  feature  which  must  not 
quite  be  passed  over  in  silence.  It  is  true  that  decency,  as  we 
understand  it,  is  a  very  modern  product,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
looked  for  in  any  society  in  the  barbarous  stage.  At  the  same 
time,  the  whole  range  of  literature  might  perhaps  be  ransacked 
for  a  parallel  to  the  naive  filthiness  of  the  passage  forming  Sec. 
TV.  of  the  following  translation,  or  to  the  extraordinary  topic 
which  the  hero  Yamato-Take  and  his  mistress  Miyadzu  are 
made  to  select  as  the  theme  of  poetical  repartee.  One  passage 
likewise  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  most  beastly  crimes 
were  commonly  committed."  6 


"  THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS          67 

Indeed,  it  happens  in  several  instances  that  the 
thread  by  which  the  marvellous  patchwork  of  unrelated 
and  varying  local  myths  is  joined  together,  is  an  in- 
decent love  story. 

A  thousand  years  after  the  traditions  of  the  Kojiki 
had  been  committed  to  writing,  and  orthodox  Shinto 
commentators  had  learned  science  from  the  Dutch  at 
Nagasaki,  the  stirring  of  the  world  mud  by  Izanagi's 
spear 7  was  gravely  asserted  to  be  the  cause  of  the  diur- 
nal revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis,  the  point  of 
the  axis  being  still  the  jewel  spear.8  Onogoro-jima,  or 
the  Island  of  the  Congealed  Drop,  was  formerly  at  the 
north  pole,9  but  subsequently  removed  to  its  present 
position.  How  this  happened  is  not  told. 

Life  in  Japan  During  the  Divine  Age. 

Now  that  the  Kojiki  is  in  English  and  all  may  read 
it,  we  can  clearly  see  who  and  what  were  the  Japanese 
in  the  ages  before  letters  and  Chinese  civilization ;  for 
these  stories  of  the  kami  are  but  legendary  and  myth- 
ical accounts  of  men  and  women.  One  could  scarcely 
recognize  in  the  islanders  of  eleven  or  twelve  hundred 
years  ago,  the  polished,  brilliant,  and  interesting  peo- 
ple of  to-day.  Yet  truth  compels  us  to  say  that  social 
morals  in  Dai  Nippon,  even  with  telegraphs  and  rail- 
ways, are  still  more  like  those  of  ancient  days  than 
readers  of  rhapsodies  by  summer  tourists  might  sup- 
pose. These  early  Japanese,  indeed,  were  possibly  in 
a  stage  of  civilization  somewhat  above  that  of  the  most 
advanced  of  the  American  Indians  when  first  met  by 
Europeans,  for  they  had  a  rude  system  of  agriculture 
and  knew  the  art  of  fashioning  iron  into  tools  and 


68  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

weapons.  Still,  they  were  very  barbarous,  certainly 
as  much  so  as  our  Germanic  "forbears."  They  lived 
in  huts.  They  were  without  writing  or  commerce,  and 
were  able  to  count  only  to  ten.10  Their  cruelty  was  as 
revolting  as  that  of  the  savage  tribes  of  America.  The 
family  was  in  its  most  rudimentary  stage,  with  little 
or  no  restraint  upon  the  passions  of  men.  Children  of 
the  same  father,  but  not  of  the  same  mother,  could 
intermarry.  The  instances  of  men  marrying  their  sis- 
ters or  aunts  were  very  common.  There  was  no  art, 
unless  the  making  of  clay  images,  to  take  the  place 
of  the  living  human  victims  buried  up  to  their  necks 
in  earth  and  left  to  starve  on  the  death  of  their  mas- 
ters,11 may  be  designated  as  such. 

The  Magatama,  or  curved  jewels,  being  made  of 
ground  and  polished  stone  may  be  called  jewelry ; 
but  since  some  of  these  prehistoric  ornaments  dug  up 
from  the  ground  are  found  to  be  of  jade,  a  mineral 
which  does  not  occur  in  Japan,  it  is  evident  that  some 
of  these  tokens  of  culture  came  from  the  continent. 
Many  other  things  produced  by  more  or  less  skilled 
mechanics,  the  origin  of  which  is  poetically  recounted 
in  the  story  of  the  dancing  of  Uzume  before  the  cave 
in  which  the  Sun-goddess  had  hid  herself,12  were  of 
continental  origin.  Evidently  these  men  of  the  god- 
way  had  passed  the  "  stone  age,"  and,  probably  with- 
out going  through  the  intermediate  bronze  age,  were 
artificers  of  iron  and  skilled  in  its  use.  Most  of  the 
names  of  metals  and  of  many  other  substances,  and 
the  terms  used  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  betray  by 
their  tell-tale  etymology  their  Chinese  origin.  In- 
deed, it  is  evident  that  some  of  the  leading  kami  were 
born  in  Korea  or  Tartary. 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         69 

Then  as  now  the  people  in  Japan  loved  nature,  and 
were  quickly  sensitive  to  her  beauty  and  profoundly 
in  sympathy  with  her  varied  phenomena.  In  the  med- 
iaeval ages,  Japanese  Words  worths  are  not  unknown.13 
Sincerely  they  loved  nature,  and  in  some  respects  they 
seemed  to  understand  the  character  of  their  country 
far  better  than  the  alien  does  or  can.  Though  a  land 
of  wonderful  beauty,  the  Country  of  Peaceful  Shores  is 
enfolded  in  powers  of  awful  destructiveness.  With 
the  earthquake  and  volcano,  the  typhoon  and  the  tidal 
wave,  beauty  and  horror  alternate  with  a  swiftness 
that  is  amazing. 

Probably  in  no  portion  of  the  earth  are  the  people 
and  the  land  more  like  each  other  or  apparently  better 
acquainted  with  each  other.  Nowhere  are  thought 
and  speech  more  reflective  of  the  features  of  the  land- 
scape. Even  after  ten  centuries,  the  Japanese  are,  in 
temperament,  what  the  Kojiki  reveals  them  to  have 
been  in  their  early  simplicity.  Indeed,  just  as  the 
modern  Frenchman,  down  beneath  his  outward  envi- 
ronments and  his  habiliments  cut  and  fitted  yesterday, 
is  intrinsically  the  same  Gaul  whom  Julius  Caesar  de- 
scribed eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  so  the  gentleman 
of  Tokio  or  Kioto  is,  in  his  mental  make-up,  wonder- 
fully like  his  ancestors  described  by  the  first  Japanese 
Stanley,  who  shed  the  light  of  letters  upon  the  night 
of  unlettered  Japan  and  darkest  Dai  Nippon. 

The  Kojiki  reveals  to  us,  likewise,  the  childlike  re- 
ligious ideas  of  the  islanders.  Heaven  lay,  not  about 
but  above  them  in  their  infancy,  yet  not  far  away.  Al- 
though in  the  "Notices,"  it  is  "the  high  plain  of 
heaven,"  yet  it  is  just  over  their  heads,  and  once  a 
single  pillar  joined  it  and  the  earth.  Later,  the  idea 


70  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

was,  that  it  was  held  up  by  the  pillar-gods  of  the  wind, 
and  to  them  norito  were  recited.  "  The  great  plain  of 
the  blue  sea  "  and  "  the  land  of  luxuriant  reeds  "  form 
"the  world" — which  means  Japan.  The  gods  are 
only  men  of  prowess  or  renown.  A  kami  is  anything 
wonderful — god  or  man,  rock  or  stream,  bird  or  snake, 
whatever  is  surprising,  sensational,  or  phenomenal,  as 
in  the  little  child's  world  of  to-day.  There  is  no  sharp 
line  dividing  gods  from  men,  the  natural  from  the  su- 
pernatural, even  as  with  the  normal  uneducated  Japan- 
ese of  to-day.  As  for  the  kami  or  gods,  they  have  all 
sorts  of  characters ;  some  of  them  being  rude  and  ill- 
mannered,  many  of  them  beastly  and  filthy,  while 
others  are  noble  and  benevolent.  The  attributes  of 
moral  purity,  wisdom  and  holiness,  cannot  be,  and  in 
the  original  writings  are  not,  ascribed  to  them  ;  but  they 
were  strong  and  had  power.  In  so  far  as  they  had 
power  they  were  called  kami  or  gods,  whether  celestial 
or  terrestrial.  Among  the  karni — the  one  term  under 
which  they  are  all  included — there  were  heavenly  bod- 
ies, mountains,  rivers,  trees,  rocks  and  animals,  be- 
cause these  also  were  supposed  to  possess  force,  or  at 
least  some  kind  of  influence  for  good  or  evil.  Even 
peaches,  as  we  have  seen,  when  transformed  into  rocks, 
became  gods.14 

That  there  was  worship  with  awe,  reverence,  and 
fear,  and  that  the  festivals  and  sacrifices  had  two  pur- 
poses, one  of  propitiating  the  offended  Kami  and  the 
other  of  purifying  the  worshipper,  may  be  seen  in  the 
norito  or  liturgies,  some  of  which  are  exceedingly 
beautiful.15  In  them  the  feelings  of  the  gods  are  of- 
ten referred  to.  Sometimes  their  characters  are  de- 
scribed. Yet  one  looks  in  vain  in  either  the  "  No- 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         71 

tices,"  poems,  or  liturgies  for  anything  definite  in 
regard  to  these  deities,  or  concerning  morals  or  doc- 
trines to  be  held  as  dogmas.  The  first  gods  come  into 
existence  after  evolution  of  the  matter  of  which  they 
are  composed  has  taken  place.  The  later  gods  are 
sometimes  able  to  tell  who  are  their  progenitors,  some- 
times not.  They  live  and  fight,  eat  and  drink,  and 
give  vent  to  their  appetites  and  passions,  and  then 
they  die ;  but  exactly  what  becomes  of  them  after  they 
die,  the  record  does  not  state.  Some  are  in  heaven, 
some  on  the  earth,  some  in  Hades.  The  underworld 
of  the  first  cycle  of  tradition  is  by  no  means  that  of 
the  second.16  Some  of  the  kami  are  in  the  water,  or 
on  the  water,  or  in  the  air.  As  for  man,  there  is  no 
clear  statement  as  to  whether  he  is  to  have  any  future 
life  or  what  is  to  become  of  him,  though  the  custom 
or  jun-shi,  or  dying  with  the  master,  points  to  a  sort 
of  immortality  such  as  the  early  Greeks  and  the  Iro- 
quois  believed  in. 

It  would  task  the  keenest  and  ablest  Shintoist  to 
deduce  or  construct  a  system  of  theology,  or  of  ethics, 
or  of  anthropology  from  the  mass  of  tradition  so  full 
of  gaps  and  discord  as  that  found  in  the  Kojiki,  and 
none  has  done  it.  Nor  do  the  inaccurate,  distorted, 
and  often  almost  wholly  factitious  translations,  so- 
called,  of  French  and  other  writers,  who  make  ver- 
sions which  hit  the  taste  of  their  occidental  readers 
far  better  than  they  express  the  truth,  yield  the  de- 
sired information.  Like  the  end  strands  of  a  new 
spider's  web,  the  lines  of  information  on  most  vital 
points  are  still  "  in  the  air." 


72  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


The  Ethics  of  the  God-way. 

There  are  no  codes  of  morals  inculcated  in  the  god- 
way,  for  even  its  modern  revivalists  and  exponents 
consider  that  morals  are  the  invention  of  wicked  people 
like  the  Chinese  ;  while  the  ancient  Japanese  were 
pure  in  thought  and  act.  They  revered  the  gods  and 
obeyed  the  Mikado,  and  that  was  the  chief  end  of  man, 
in  those  ancient  times  when  Japan  was  the  world  and 
Heaven  was  just  above  the  earth.  Not  exactly  on 
Paul's  principle  of  "  where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no 
transgression,"  but  utterly  scouting  the  idea  that  for- 
mulated ethics  were  necessary  for  these  pure-mind- 
ed people,  the  modern  revivalists  of  Shinto  teach 
that  all  that  is  "of  faith "  now  is  to  revere  the  gods, 
keep  the  heart  pure,  and  follow  its  dictates.17  The 
naivete  of  the  representatives  of  Shinto  at  Chicago 
in  A.D.  1893,  was  almost  as  great  as  that  of  the 
revivalists  who  wrote  when  Japan  was  a  hermit  na- 
tion. 

The  very  fact  that  there  was  no  moral  command- 
ments, not  even  of  loyalty  or  obedience  such  as  Con- 
fucianism afterward  promulgated  and  formulated,  is 
proof  to  the  modern  Shintoist  that  the  primeval  Jap- 
anese were  pure  and  holy ;  they  did  right,  naturally, 
and  hence  he  does  not  hesitate  to  call  Japan,  the  Land 
of  the  Gods,  the  Country  of  the  Holy  Spirits,  the  Re- 
gion Between  Heaven  and  Earth,  the  Island  of  the 
Congealed  Drop,  the  Sun's  Nest,  the  Princess  Country, 
the  Land  of  Great  Peace,  the  Land  of  Great  Gentle- 
ness, the  Mikado's  Empire,  the  Country  ruled  by  a 
Theocratic  Dynasty.  He  considers  that  only  with  the 


"THE  KQJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         73 

vice  brought  over  from  the  Continent  of  Asia  were 
ethics  both  imported  and  made  necessary.18 

All  this  has  been  solemnly  taught  by  famous  Shinto 
scholars  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries, 
and  is  still  practically  promulgated  in  the  polemic 
Shinto  literature  of  to-day,  even  after  the  Kojiki  has 
been  studied  and  translated  into  European  languages. 
The  Kojiki  shows  that  whatever  the  men  may  have  been 
or  done,  the  gods  were  abominably  obscene,  and  both 
in  word  and  deed  were  foul  and  revolting,  utterly  op- 
posed in  act  to  those  reserves  of  modesty  or  standards 
of  shame  that  exist  even  among  the  cultivated  Jap- 
anese to-day.19  Even  among  the  Ainos,  whom  the  Jap- 
anese look  upon  as  savages,  there  is  still  much  of  the 
obscenity  of  speech  which  belongs  to  all  society  *  in  a 
state  of  barbarism ;  but  it  has  been  proved  that  gen- 
uine modesty  is  a  characteristic  of  the  Aino  women.21 
A  literal  English  translation  of  the  Kojiki,  however, 
requires  an  abundant  use  of  Latin  in  order  to  protect 
it  from  the  grasp  of  the  law  in  English-speaking 
Christendom.  In  Chamberlain's  version,  the  numer- 
ous cesspools  are  thus  filled  up  with  a  dead  language, 
and  the  road  is  constructed  for  the  reader,  who  likes 
the  language  of  Edmund  Spencer,  of  William  Tyndale 
and  of  John  Kuskin  kept  unsoiled. 

The  cruelty  which  marks  this  early  stage  shows  that 
though  moral  codes  did  not  exist,  the  Buddhist  and 
Confucian  missionary  were  for  Japan  necessities  of  the 
first  order.  Comparing  the  result  to-day  with  the  state 
of  things  in  the  early  times,  one  must  award  high 
praise  to  Buddhism  that  it  has  made  the  Japanese 
gentle,  and  to  Confucianism  that  it  has  taught  the 
proprieties  of  life,  so  that  the  polished  Japanese  gen- 


74  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tleman,  as  to  courtesy,  is  in  many  respects  the  peer 
and  at  some  external  points  the  superior,  of  his  Euro- 
pean confrere. 

Another  fact,  made  repulsively  clear,  about  life  in 
ancient  Japan,  is  that  the  high  ideals  of  truth  and 
honor,  characteristic  at  least  of  the  Samurai  of  modern 
times,  were  utterly  unknown  in  the  days  of  the  kami. 
Treachery  was  common.  Instances  multiply  on  the 
pages  of  the  Kojiki  where  friend  betrayed  friend.  The 
most  sacred  relations  of  life  were  violated.  Altogether 
these  were  the  darkest  ages  of  Japan,  though,  as 
among  the  red  men  of  America,  there  were  not  wanting 
many  noble  examples  of  stoical  endurance,  of  courage, 
and  of  power  nobly  exerted  for  the  benefit  of  others. 

Tlie  Rise  of  Mikadoism. 

Nevertheless  we  must  not  forget  that  the  men  of  the 
early  age  of  the  Kami  no  Michi  conquered  the  aborig- 
ines by  superior  dogmas  and  fetiches,  as  well  as  by 
superior  weapons.  The  entrance  of  these  heroes,  in- 
vaders from  the  highlands  of  the  Asian  continent,  by 
way  of  Korea,  was  relatively  a  very  influential  factor 
of  progress,  though  not  so  important  as  was  the  Aryan 
descent  upon  India,  or  the  Norman  invasion  of  Eng- 
land, for  the  aboriginal  tribes  were  vastly  lower  in  the 
scale  of  humanity  than  their  subduers.  Where  they 
found  savagery  they  introduced  barbarism,  which, 
though  unlettered  and  based  on  the  sword,  was  a  vast 
improvement  over  what  may  be  called  the  geological 
state  of  man,  in  which  he  is  but  slightly  raised  above 
the  brutes. 

For  the  proofs  from  the  shell  heaps,  combined  with 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         75 

the  reflected  evidences  of  folk-lore,  show,  that  cannibal- 
ism ^  was  common  in  the  early  ages,  and  that  among 
the  aboriginal  hill  tribes  it  lingered  after  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  plain  and  shore  had  been  subdued.  The 
conquerors,  who  made  themselves  paramount  over  the 
other  tribes  and  who  developed  the  Kami  religion, 
abolished  this  relic  of  savagery,  and  gave  order  where 
there  had  been  chronic  war.  Another  thing  that  im- 
presses us  because  of  its  abundant  illustrations,  is  the 
prevalence  of  human  sacrifices.  The  very  ancient 
folk-lore  shows  that  beautiful  maidens  were  demanded 
by  the  "sea-gods"  in  propitiation,  or  were  devoured 
by  the  "  dragons."  These  human  victims  were  either 
chosen  or  voluntarily  offered,  and  in  some  instances 
were  rescued  from  their  fate  by  chivalrous  heroes23 
from  among  the  invaders. 

These  gods  of  the  sea,  who  anciently  were  propiti- 
ated by  the  sacrifice  of  human  beings,  are  the  same  to 
whom  Japanese  sailors  still  pray,  despite  their  Buddh- 
ism. The  title  of  the  efficient  victims  was  hitoga- 
shira,  or  human  pillars.  Instances  of  this  ceremony, 
where  men  were  lowered  into  the  water  and  drowned 
in  order  to  make  the  sure  foundation  for  bridges,  piers 
or  sea-walls,  or  where  they  were  buried  alive  in  the 
earth  in  order  to  lay  the  right  bases  for  walls  or  castles, 
are  quite  numerous,  and  most  of  the  local  histories  con- 
tain specific  traditions.24  These  traditions,  now  trans- 
figured, still  survive  in  customs  that  are  as  beautiful  as 
they  are  harmless.  To  reformers  of  pre-Buddhistic 
days,  belongs  the  credit  of  the  abolition  of  jun-shi,  or 
dying  with  the  master  by  burial  alive,  as  well  as  of  the 
sacrifice  to  dragons  and  sea-gods. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  before  Buddhism  captured 


76  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

and  made  use  of  Shinto  for  its  own  purposes  (just  as 
it  stands  ready  to-day  to  absorb  Christianity  by  mak- 
ing Jesus  one  of  the  Palestinian  avatars  of  the  Buddha), 
the  house  or  tribe  of  Yamato,  with  its  claim  to  descent 
from  the  heavenly  gods,  and  with  its  Mikado  or  god- 
ruler,  had  given  to  the  Buddhists  a  precedent  and 
potent  example.  Shinto,  as  a  state  religion  or  union 
of  politics  and  piety,  with  its  system  of  shrines  and 
festivals,  and  in  short  the  whole  Kami  no  Michi,  or 
Shinto  as  we  know  it,  from  the  sixth  to  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, was  in  itself  (in  part  at  least),  a  case  of  the  ab- 
sorption of  one  religion  by  another. 

In  short,  the  Mikado  tribe  or  Yamato  clan  did,  in 
reality,  capture  the  aboriginal  religion,  and  turn  it  into 
a  great  political  machine.  They  attempted  syncre- 
tism and  succeeded  in  their  scheme.  They  added  to 
their  own  stock  of  dogma  and  fetich  that  of  the  na- 
tives. Only,  while  recognizing  the  (earth)  gods  of  the 
aborigines  they  proclaimed  the  superiority  of  the  Mika- 
do as  representative  and  vicegerent  of  Heaven,  and 
demanded  that  even  the  gods  of  the  earth,  mountain, 
river,  wind,  and  thunder  and  lightning  should  obey 
him.  Not  content,  however,  with  absorbing  and  cor- 
rupting for  political  purposes  the  primitive  faith  of  the 
aborigines,  the  invaders  corrupted  their  own  religion 
by  carrying  the  dogma  of  the  divinity  and  infallibility 
of  the  Mikado  too  far.  Stopping  short  of  no  absurdity, 
they  declared  their  chief  greater  even  than  the  heaven- 
ly gods,  and  made  their  religion  centre  in  him  rather 
than  in  his  alleged  heavenly  ancestors,  or  "  heaven." 
In  the  interest  of  politics  and  conquest,  and  for  the 
sake  of  maintaining  the  prestige  of  their  tribe  and 
clan,  these  '  •  Mikado-re verencers  "  of  early  ages  ad- 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  IT 8  TEACHINGS         77 

vanced  from  dogma  to  dogma,  until  their  leader  was 
virtually  chief  god  in  a  great  pantheon. 

A  critical  native  Japanese,  student  of  the  Kojiki 
and  of  the  early  writings,  Professor  Kume,  formerly  of 
the  Imperial  University  in  Tokio,  has  brought  to  light 
abundant  evidence  to  show  that  the  aboriginal  religion 
found  by  the  Yamato  conquerors  was  markedly  differ- 
ent at  many  vital  points,  from  that  which  was  long  af- 
terward called  Shinto. 

If  the  view  of  recent  students  of  anthropology  be 
correct,  that  the  elements  dominating  the  population  in 
ancient  Japan  were  in  the  south,  Malay  ;  in  the  north, 
Aino ;  and  in  the  central  region,  or  that  occupied  by 
the  Yamato  men,  Korean  ;  then,  these  continental  in- 
vaders may  have  been  worshippers  of  Heaven  and  have 
possessed  a  religion  closely  akin  to  that  of  ancient 
China  with  its  monotheism.  It  is  very  probable  also 
that  they  came  into  contact  with  tribes  or  colonies  of 
their  fellow-continentals  from  Asia.  These  tribes, 
hunters,  fishermen,  or  rude  agriculturists — who  had 
previously  reached  Japan — practised  many  rites  and 
ceremonies  which  were  much  like  those  of  the  new  in- 
vaders. It  is  certain  also,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the 
Yamato  men  made  ultimate  conquest  and  unification  of 
all  the  islanders,  not  merely  by  the  superiority  of  their 
valor  and  of  their  weapons  of  iron,  but  also  by  their 
dogmas.  After  success  in  battle,  and  the  first  begin- 
nings of  rude  government,  they  taught  their  conquered 
subjects  or  over-awed  vassals,  that  they  were  the  de- 
scendants of  the  heavenly  gods ;  that  their  ancestors 
had  come  down  from  heaven ;  and  that  their  chief  or 
Mikado  was  a  god.  According  to  the  same  dogmatics, 
the  aborigines  were  descendants  of  the  earth-born 


78  TEE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

gods,  and  as  such  must  obey  the  descendants  of  the 
heavenly  gods,  and  their  vicegerent  upon  the  earth, 
the  Mikado. 

Purification  of  Offences. 

These  heaven-descended  Yamato  people  were  in  the 
main  agriculturists,  though  of  a  rude  order,  while  the 
outlying  tribes  were  mostly  hunters  and  fishermen ; 
and  many  of  the  rituals  show  the  class  of  crimes 
which  nomads,  or  men  of  unsettled  life,  would  natu- 
rally commit  against  their  neighbors  living  in  com- 
paratively settled  order.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in 
the  god-way  the  origin  of  evil  is  to  be  ascribed  to  evil 
gods.  These  kami  pollute,  and  pollution  is  iniquity. 
From  this  iniquity  the  people  are  to  be  purged  by  the 
gods  of  purification,  to  whom  offerings  are  duly  made. 

He  who  would  understand  the  passion  for  cleanliness 
which  characterizes  the  Japanese  must  look  for  its  source 
in  their  ancient  religion.  The  root  idea  of  the  word 
tsumi,  which  Mr.  Satow  translated  as  "  offence,"  is  that  of 
pollution.  On  this  basis,  of  things  pure  and  things  defil- 
ing, the  ancient  teachers  of  Shinto  made  their  classifica- 
tion of  what  was  good  and  what  was  bad.  From  the  im- 
pression of  what  was  repulsive  arose  the  idea  of  guilt. 

In  rituals  translated  by  Mr.  Satow,  the  list  of  of- 
fences is  given  and  the  defilements  are  to  be  removed 
to  the  nether  world,  or,  in  common  fact,  the  polluted 
objects  and  the  expiatory  sacrifices  are  to  be  thrown  in- 
to the  rivers  and  thence  carried  to  the  sea,  where  they 
fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  earth.  The  following  norito 
clearly  shows  this.  Furthermore,  as  Mr.  Satow,  the 
translator,  points  out,  this  ritual  contains  the  germ  of 
criminal  law,  a  whole  code  of  which  might  have  been 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         79 

evolved  and  formulated  under  Shinto,  had  not  Buddh- 
ism arrested  its  growth. 

Amongst  the  various  sorts  of  offences  which  may  be  com- 
mitted in  ignorance  or  out  of  negligence  by  heaven's  increasing 
people,  who  shall  come  into  being  in  the  country,  which  the 
Sovran  GRANDCHILD'S  augustness,  hiding  in  the  fresh  BESI- 
DENCE,  built  by  stoutly  planting  the  HousE-pillars  on  the  bot- 
tom-most rocks,  and  exalting  the  cross-beams  to  the  plain  of 
high  heaven,  as  his  SHADE  from  the  heavens  and  SHADE  from 
the  sun,  shall  tranquilly  rule  as  a  peaceful  country,  namely,  the 
country  of  great  Yamato,  where  the  sun  is  seen  on  high,  which 
he  fixed  upon  as  a  peaceful  country,  as  the  centre  of  the  coun- 
tries of  the  four  quarters  thus  bestowed  upon  him — breaking 
the  ridges,  filling  up  water- courses,  opening  sluices,  double- 
sowing,  planting  stakes,  flaying  alive,  flaying  backwards,  and 
dunging;  many  of  such  offences  are  distinguished  as  heavenly 
offences,  and  as  earthly  offences  ;  cutting  living  flesh,  cutting 
dead  flesh,  leprosy,  proud-flesh,  .  .  .  calamities  of  crawl- 
ing worms,  calamities  of  a  god  on  high,  calamities  of  birds  on 
high,  the  offences  of  killing  beasts  and  using  incantations; 
many  of  such  offences  may  be  disclosed. 

When  he  has  thus  repeated  it,  the  heavenly  gods  will  push 
open  heaven's  eternal  gates,  and  cleaving  a  path  with  might 
through  the  manifold  clouds  of  heaven,  will  hear ;  and  the 
country  gods,  ascending  to  the  tops  of  the  high  mountains,  and 
to  the  tops  of  the  low  hills,  and  tearing  asunder  the  mists  of  the 
high  mountains  and  the  mists  of  the  low  hills,  will  hear. 

And  when  they  have  thus  heard,  the  Maiden-of-Descent-into~ 
the-Current,  who  dwells  in  the  current  of  the  swift  stream 
which  boils  down  the  ravines  from  the  tops  of  the  high  moun- 
tains, and  the  tops  of  the  low  hills,  shall  carry  out  to  the  great 
sea  plain  the  offences  which  are  cleared  away  and  purified,  so; 
that  there  be  no  remaining  offence ;  like  as  Shinato's  wind 
blows  apart  the  manifold  clouds  of  heaven,  as  the  morning  wind 
and  the  evening  wind  blow  away  the  morning  mist  and  the 
evening  mist,  as  the  great  ships  which  lie  on  the  shore  of  a 
great  port  loosen  their  prows,  and  loosen  their  sterns  to  push 


80  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

out  into  the  great  sea-plain ;  as  the  trunks  of  the  forest  trees, 
far  and  near,  are  cleared  away  by  the  sharp  sickle,  the  sickle 
forged  with  fire  :  so  that  there  ceased  to  be  any  offence  called 
an  offence  in  the  court  of  the  Sovran  GRANDCHILD'S  augustness 
to  begin  with,  and  in  the  countries  of  the  four  quarters  of  the 
region  under  heaven. 

And  when  she  thus  carries  them  out  and  away,  the  deity 
called  the  Maiden-of-the-Swift-cleansing,  who  dwells  in  the 
multitudinous  meetings  of  the  sea  waters,  the  multitudinous 
currents  of  rough  sea-waters  shall  gulp  them  down. 

And  when  she  has  thus  gulped  them  down,  the  lord  of  the 
Breath-blowing-place,  who  dwells  in  the  Breath-blowing-place, 
shall  utterly  blow  them  away  with  his  breath  to  the  Koot-coun- 
try,  the  Bottom-country. 

And  when  he  has  thus  blown  them  away,  the  deity  called  the 
Maiden-of-Swift-Banishment,  who  dwells  in  the  Boot-country, 
the  Bottom-country,  shall  completely  banish  them,  and  get  rid 
of  them. 

And  when  they  have  thus  been  got  rid  of,  there  shall  from 
this  day  onwards  be  no  offence  which  is  called  offence,  with  re- 
gard to  the  men  of  the  offices  who  serve  in  the  court  of  the  Sov- 
ran, nor  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  region  under  heaven. 

Then  the  high  priest  says : 

Hear  all  of  you  how  he  leads  forth  the  horse,  as  a  thing  that 
erects  its  ears  towards  the  plain  of  high  heaven,  and  deigns  to 
sweep  away  and  purify  with  the  general  purification,  as  the 
evening  sun  goes  down  on  the  last  day  of  the  watery  moon  of 
this  year. 

O  diviners  of  the  four  countries,  take  (the  sacrifices)  away 
out  to  the  river  highway,  and  sweep  them  away. 


Mikadoism  Usurps  the  Primitive  God-way. 

A  further  proof  of  the  transformation  of  the  primitive 
god-way  in  the  interest  of  practical  politics,  is  shown  by 
Professor  Kume  in  the  fact  that  some  of  the  festivals  now 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS          81 

directly  connected  with  the  Mikado's  house,  and  even  in 
his  honor, were  originally  festivals  with  which  he  had 
nothing  to  do,  except  as  leader  of  the  worship,  for  the 
honor  was  paid  to  Heaven,  and  not  to  his  ancestors. 
Professor  Kume  maintains  that  the  thanksgivings  of 
the  court  were  originally  to  Heaven  itself,  and  not 
in  honor  of  Ainaterasu,  the  sun-goddess,  as  is  now 
popularly  believed.  It  is  related  in  the  Kojiki  that 
Amaterasu  herself  celebrated  the  feast  of  Niiname. 
So  also,  the  temple  of  Ise,  the  Mecca  of  Shinto,  and 
the  Holy  shrine  in  the  imperial  palace  were  original- 
ly temples  for  the  worship  of  Heaven.  The  inferi- 
or gods  of  earthly  origin  form  no  part  of  primitive 
Shinto. 

Not  one  of  the  first  Mikados  was  deified  after  death, 
the  deification  of  emperors  dating  from  the  corrup- 
tion which  Shinto  underwent  after  the  introduction 
of  Buddhism.  Only  by  degrees  was  the  ruler  of  the 
country  given  a  place  in  the  worship,  and  this  connec- 
tion was  made  by  attributing  to  him  descent  from 
Beaven.  In  a  word,  the  contention  of  Professor  Ku- 
me is,  that  the  ancient  religion  of  at  least  a  portion  of 
the  Japanese  and  especially  of  those  in  central  Japan, 
was  a  rude  sort  of  monotheism,  coupled,  as  in  ancient 
China,  with  the  worship  of  subordinate  spirits. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  such  applications  of  the 
higher  criticism  to  the  ancient  sacred  documents 
proved  to  be  no  safer  for  the  applier  than  if  he  had 
lived  in  the  United  States  of  America.  The  orthodox 
Shintoists  were  roused  to  wrath  and  charged  the 
learned  critic  with  "  degrading  Shinto  to  a  mere  branch 
of  Christianity."  The  government,  which,  despite  its 
Constitution  and  Diet,  is  in  the  eyes  of  the  people 
6 


82  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

really  based  on  the  myths  of  the  Kojiki,  quickly  put 
the  professor  on  the  retired  list.5*5 

It  is  probably  correct  to  say  that  the  arguments  ad- 
duced by  Professor  Kume,  confirm  our  theory  of  the 
substitution  in  the  simple  god-way,  of  Mikadoism,  the 
centre  of  the  primitive  worship  being  the  sun  and  na- 
ture rather  than  Heaven. 

Between  the  ancient  Chinese  religion  with  its  ab- 
stract idea  of  Heaven  and  its  personal  term  for  God, 
and  the  more  poetic  and  childlike  system  of  the  god- 
way,  there  seems  to  be  as  much  difference  as  there  is 
racially  between  the  people  of  the  Middle  Kingdom 
and  those  of  the  Land  Where  the  Day  Begins.  Indeed, 
the  entrance  of  Chinese  philosophical  and  abstract 
ideas  seemed  to  paralyze  the  Japanese  imagination. 
Not  only  did  myth-making,  on  its  purely  aesthetic  and 
non-utilitarian  side  cease  almost  at  once,  but  such 
myths  as  were  formed  were  for  direct  business  pur- 
poses and  with  a  transparent  tendency.  Henceforth, 
in  the  domain  of  imagination  the  Japanese  intellect 
busied  itself  with  assimilating  or  re-working  the  abun- 
dant material  imported  by  Buddhism. 

Ancient  Customs  and  Usages. 

In  the  ancient  god- way  the  temple  or  shrine  was 
called  a  miya.  After  the  advent  of  Buddhism  the 
keepers  of  the  shrine  were  called  kannushi,  that  is, 
shrine  keepers  or  wardens  of  the  god.  These  men 
were  usually  descendants  of  the  god  in  whose  honor  the 
temples  were  built.  The  gods  being  nothing  more  than 
human  founders  of  families,  reverence  was  paid  to  them 
as.  ancestors,  and  SQ  the  basis  of  Shinto  is  ancestn 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         83 

worship.  The  model  of  the  miya,  in  modern  as  in  an- 
cient times,  is  the  primitive  hut  as  it  was  before  Buddh- 
ism introduced  Indian  and  Chinese  architecture.  The 
posts,  stuck  in  the  ground,  and  not  laid  upon  stones  as 
in  after  times,  supported  the  walls  and  roof,  the  latter 
being  of  thatch.  The  rafters,  crossed  at  the  top,  were 
tied  along  the  ridge-pole  with  the  fibres  of  creepers  or 
wistaria  vines.  No  paint,  lacquer,  gilding,  or  orna- 
ments of  any  sort  existed  in  the  ancient  shrine,  and 
even  to-day  the  modern  Shinto  temple  must  be  of  pure 
hinoki  or  sun-wood,  and  thatched,  while  the  use  of 
metal  is  as  far  as  possible  avoided.  To  the  gods,  as 
the  norito  show,  offerings  of  various  kinds  were  made, 
consisting  of  the  fruits  of  the  soil,  the  products  of  the 
sea,  and  the  fabrics  of  the  loom. 

Inside  modern  temples  one  often  sees  a  mirror,  in 
which  foreigners  with  lively  imaginations  read  a  great 
deal  that  is  only  the  shadow  of  their  own  mind,  but 
which  probably  was  never  known  in  Shinto  temples 
until  after  Buddhist  times.  They  also  see  in  front  of 
the  unpainted  wooden  closets  or  casements,  wands  or 
sticks  of  wood  from  which  depend  masses  or  strips  of 
white  paper,  cut  and  notched  in  a  particular  way. 
Foreigners,  whose  fancy  is  nimble,  have  read  in  these 
the  symbols  of  lightning,  the  abode  of  the  spirits  and 
various  forthshadowings  unknown  either  to  the  Japa- 
nese or  the  ancient  writings.  In  reality  these  gohei,  or 
honorable  offerings,  are  nothing  more  than  the  paper 
representatives  of  the  ancient  offerings  of  cloth  which 
were  woven,  as  the  arts  progressed,  of  bark,  of  hemp 
and  of  silk. 

The  chief  Shinto  ministers  of  religion  and  shrine- 
keepers  belonged  to  particular  families,  which  were  often 


84:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

honored  with,  titles  and  offices  by  the  emperor.  In  or- 
dinary life  they  dressed  like  others  of  their  own  rank 
or  station,  but  when  engaged  in  their  sacred  office  were 
robed  in  white  or  in  a  special  official  costume,  wearing 
upon  their  heads  the  eboshi  or  peculiar  cap  which  Ave 
associate  with  Japanese  archaeology.  They  knew  noth- 
ing of  celibacy ;  but  married,  reared  families  and  kept 
their  scalps  free  from  the  razor,  though  some  of  the 
lower  order  of  shrine-keepers  dressed  their  hair  in 
ordinary  style,  that  is,  with  shaven  poll  and  topknot. 
At  some  of  the  more  important  shrines,  like  those  at 
Ise,  there  were  virgin  priestesses  who  acted  as  custo- 
dians both  of  the  shrines  and  of  the  relics.26 

In  front  of  the  miyas  stood  what  we  should  suppose 
on  first  seeing  was  a  gateway.  This  was  the  torii  or 
bird-perch,  and  anciently  was  made  only  of  unpainted 
wood.  Two  upright  tree-trunks  held  crosswise  on  a 
smooth  tree-trunk  the  ends  of  which  projected  some- 
what over  the  supports,  while  under  this  was  a  smaller 
beam  inserted  between  the  two  uprights.  On  the  torii, 
the  birds,  generally  barn-yard  fowls  which  were  sacred 
to  the  gods,  roosted.  These  creatures  were  not  offered 
up  as  sacrifices,  but  were  chanticleers  to  give  notice  of 
day-break  and  the  rising  of  the  sun.  The  cock  holds 
a  prominent  place  in  Japanese  myth,  legend,  art  and 
symbolism.  How  this  feature  of  pure  Japanese  archi- 
tecture, the  torii,  afterward  lost  its  meaning,  we  shall 
show  in  our  lecture  on  Eiyobu  or  mixed  Buddhism. 

Shintd's  Emphasis  on  Cleanliness. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  Shinto  was 
the  emphasis  laid  on  cleanliness.  Pollution  was  calam- 


"  THE  KOJIKI  '  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         85 

ity,  defilement  was  sin,  and  physical  purity  at  least, 
was  holiness.  Everything  that  could  in  any  way  soil 
the  body  or  the  clothing  was  looked  upon  with  abhor- 
rence and  detestation.  Disease,  wounds  and  death 
were  defiling,  and  the  feeling  of  disgust  prevailed  over 
that  of  either  sympathy  or  pity.  Birth  and  death  were 
especially  polluting.  Anciently  there  were  huts  built 
both  for  the  mother  about  to  give  birth  to  a  child,  or 
for  the  man  who  was  dying  or  sure  to  die  of  disease  or 
wounds.  After  the  birth  of  the  infant  or  the  death  of 
the  patient  these  houses  were  burned.  Cruel  as  this 
system  was  to  the  woman  at  a  time  when  she  needed 
most  care  and  comfort,  and  brutal  as  it  seems  in  regard 
to  the  sick  and  dying,  yet  this  ancient  custom  was  con- 
tinued in  a  few  remote  places  in  Japan  as  late  as  the 
year  1878.27  In  modern  days  with  equal  knowledge  of 
danger  and  defilement,  tenderness  and  compassion 
temper  the  feeling  of  disgust,  and  prevail  over  it. 
Horror  of  uncleanliness  was  so  great  that  the  priests 
bathed  and  put  on  clean  garments  before  making  the 
sacred  offerings  or  chanting  the  liturgies,  and  were  ac- 
customed to  bind  a  slip  of  paper  over  their  mouths  lest 
their  breath  should  pollute  the  offering.  Numerous 
were  the  special  festivals,  observed  simply  for  purifica- 
tion. Salt  also  was  commonly  used  to  sprinkle  over 
the  ground,  and  those  who  attended  a  funeral  must 
free  themselves  from  contamination  by  the  use  of  salt.28 
Purification  by  water  was  habitual  and  in  varied  forms. 
The  ancient  emperors  and  priests  actually  performed 
the  ablution  of  the  people  or  made  public  lustration 
in  their  behalf. 

Afterwards,  and  probably   because   population  in- 
creased  and  towns  sprang  up,  we  find  it  was  custom- 


86  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ary  at  the  festivals  of  purification  to  perform  public 
ablution,  vicariously,  as  it  were,  by  means  of  paper 
mannikins  instead  of  making  applications  of  water  to 
the  human  cuticle.  Twice  a  year  paper  figures  rep- 
resenting the  people  were  thrown  into  the  river,  the 
typical  meaning  of  which  was  that  the  nation  was 
thereby  cleansed  from  the  sins,  that  is,  the  defilements, 
of  the  previous  half  -  year.  Still  later,  the  Mikado 
made  the  chief  minister  of  religion  at  Kioto  his 
deputy  to  perform  the  symbolical  act  for  the  people  of 
the  whole  country. 

Prayers  to  Myriads  of  Gods. 

In  prayer,  the  worshipper,  approaching  the  temple 
but  not  entering  it,  pulls  a  rope  usually  made  of  white 
material  and  attached  to  a  peculiar-shaped  bell  hung 
over  the  shrine,  calling  the  attention  of  the  deity  to 
his  devotions.  Having  washed  his  hands  and  rinsed 
out  his  mouth,  he  places  his  hands  reverently  to- 
gether and  offers  his  petition. 

Concerning  the  method  and  words  of  prayer,  Hirata, 
a  famous  exponent  of  Shinto,  thus  writes  : 

As  the  number  of  the  gods  who  possess  different  functions  is 
so  great,  it  will  be  convenient  to  worship  by  name  only  the 
most  important  and  to  include  the  rest  in  a  general  petition. 
Those  whose  daily  affairs  are  so  multitudinous  that  they  have 
not  time  to  go  through  the  whole  of  the  following  morning 
prayers,  may  content  themselves  with  adoring  the  residence  of 
the  emperor,  the  domestic  kami-dana,  the  spirits  of  their  an- 
cestors, their  local  patron  god  and  the  deity  of  their  particular 
calling  in  life. 

In  praying  to  the  gods  the  blessings  which  each  has  it  in  his 
power  to  bestow  are  to  be  mentioned  in  a  few  words,  and  they 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         87 

are  not  to  be  annoyed  with  greedy  petitions,  for  the  Mikado  in 
his  palace  offers  up  petitions  daily  on  behalf  of  his  people, 
which  are  far  more  effectual  than  those  of  his  subjects. 

Eising  early  in  the  morning,  wash  your  face  and  hands,  rinse 
out  the  mouth  and  cleanse  the  body.  Then  turn  toward  the 
province  of  Yamato,  strike  the  palms  of  the  hands  together 
twice,  and  worship,  bowing  the  head  to  the  ground.  The 
proper  posture  is  that  of  kneeling  on  the  heels,  which  is  ordi- 
narily assumed  in  saluting  a  superior. 

PEAYEE. 

From  a  distance  I  reverently  worship  with  awe  before  Ame 
no  Mi-hashira  (Heaven-pillar)  and  Kuni  no  Mi-hashira  (Coun- 
try-pillar), also  called  Shinatsu-hiko  no  kami  and  Shinatsu-hime 
no  kami,  to  whom  is  consecrated  the  Palace  built  with  stout 
pillars  at  Tatsuta  no  Tachinu  in  the  department  of  Heguri  in 
the  province  of  Yamato. 

I  say  with  awe,  deign  to  bless  me  by  correcting  the  unwit- 
ting faults  which,  seen  and  heard  by  you,  I  have  committed, 
by  blowing  off  and  clearing  away  the  calamities  which  evil 
gods  might  inflict,  by  causing  me  to  live  long  like  the  hard  and 
lasting  rode,  and  by  repeating  to  the  gods  of  heavenly  origin 
and  to  the  gods  of  earthly  origin  the  petitions  which  I  present 
every  day,  along  with  your  breath,  that  they  may  hear  with  the 
sharp-earedness  of  the  forth-galloping  colt. 

To  the  common  people  the  sun  is  actually  a  god,  as 
none  can  doubt  who  sees  them  worshipping  it  morn- 
ing and  evening.  The  writer  can  never  forget  one  of 
many  similar  scenes  in  Tokio,  when  late  one  afternoon 
after  O  Tento  Sama  (the  sun-Lord  of  Heaven),  which 
had  been  hidden  behind  clouds  for  a  fortnight,  shone 
out  on  the  muddy  streets.  In  a  moment,  as  with  the 
promptness  of  a  military  drill,  scores  of  people  rushed 
out  of  their  houses  and  with  faces  westward,  kneeling, 
squatting,  began  prayer  and  worship  before  the  great 
luminary.  Besides  all  the  gods,  supreme,  subordi- 


88  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

nate  and  local,  there  is  in  nearly  every  house  the 
Kami-dana  or  god-shelf.  This  is  usually  over  the 
door  inside.  It  contains  images  with  little  paper-cov- 
ered wooden  tablets  having  the  god's  name  on  them. 
Offerings  are  made  by  day  and  a  little  lamp  is  lighted 
at  night.  The  following  is  one  of  several  prayers 
which  are  addressed  to  this  kami-dana. 

Reverently  adoring  the  great  god  of  the  two  palaces  of  Ise,  in 
the  first  place,  the  eight  hundred  myriads  of  celestial  gods,  the 
eight  hundred  myriads  of  terrestrial  gods,  all  the  fifteen  hun- 
dred myriads  of  gods  to  whom  are  consecrated  the  great  and 
small  temples  in  all  provinces,  all  islands  and  all  places  of  the 
Great  Land  of  Eight  Islands,  the  fifteen  hundreds  of  myriads 
of  gods  whom  they  cause  to  serve  them,  and  the  gods  of  branch 
palaces  and  branch  temples,  and  Sohodo  no  kami,  whom  I  have 
invited  to  the  shrine  set  up  on  this  divine  shelf,  and  to  whom  I 
offer  praises  day  by  day,  I  pray  with  awe  that  they  will  deign 
to  correct  the  unwitting  faults,  which,  heard  and  seen  by  them, 
I  have  committed,  and  blessing  and  favoring  me  according  to 
the  powers  which  they  severally  wield,  cause  me  to  follow  the 
divine  example,  and  to  perform  good  works  in  the  Way. 

Shinto  Left  in  a  State  of  Arrested  Development. 

Thus  from  the  emperor  to  the  humblest  believer,  the 
god-way  is  founded  on  ancestor  worship,  and  has  had 
grafted  upon  its  ritual  system  nature  worship,  even  to 
phallicism.  In  one  sense  it  is  a  self-made  religion  of 
the  Japanese.  Its  leading  characteristics  are  seen  in 
the  traits  of  the  normal  Japanese  character  of  to-day. 
Its  power  for  good  and  evil  may  be  traced  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  Japanese  through  many  centuries.  Know- 
ing Shinto,  we  to  a  large  degree  know  the  Japanese, 
their  virtues  and  their  failings. 

What  Shinto  might  have  become  in  its  full  evolution 


•'THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         89 

had  it  been  left  alone,  we  cannot  tell.  Whether  in  the 
growth  of  the  nation  and  without  the  pressure  of  Buddh- 
ism, Confucianism  or  other  powerful  influences  from 
outside,  the  scattered  and  fragmentary  mythology 
might  have  become  organized  into  a  harmonious  sys- 
tem, or  codes  of  ethics  have  been  formulated,  or  the 
doctrines  of  a  future  life  and  the  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Being  with  personal  attributes  have  been  conceived 
and  perfected,  are  questions  the  discussion  of  which 
may  seem  to  be  vain.  History,  however,  gives  no 
uncertain  answer  as  to  what  actually  did  take  place. 
We  do  but  state  what  is  unchallenged  fact,  when  we 
say,  that  after  commitment  to  writing  of  the  myths, 
poems  and  liturgies  which  may  be  called  the  basis  of 
Shinto,  there  came  a  great  flood  of  Chinese  and  Buddh- 
istic literature  and  a  tremendous  expansion  of  Buddh- 
ist missionary  activity,  which  checked  further  literary 
growth  of  the  kami  system.  These  prepared  the  way 
for  the  absorption  of  the  indigenous  into  the  foreign 
cultus  under  the  form  called  by  an  enthusiastic  em- 
peror, Kiyobu  Shinto,  or  the  "two-fold  divine  doc- 
trine." Of  this,  we  shall  speak  in  another  lecture. 

Suffice  it  here  to  say  that  by  the  scheme  of  syncre- 
tism propounded  by  Kobo  in  the  ninth  century,  Shinto 
was  practically  overlaid  by  the  new  faith  from  India, 
and  largely  forgotten  as  a  distinct  religion  by  the 
Japanese  people.  As  late  as  A.D.  927,  there  were  three 
thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  enumerated  met- 
ropolitan and  provincial  temples,  besides  many  more 
unenumerated  village  and  hamlet  shrines  of  Shinto. 
These  are  referred  to  in  the  revised  codes  of  ceremonial 
law  set  forth  by  imperial  authority  early  in  the  tenth 
century.  Probably  by  the  twelfth  century  the  pure  rites 


90  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  the  god-way  were  celebrated,  and  the  unmixed  tradi- 
tions maintained,  in  families  and  temples,  so  few  as 
to  be  counted  on  the  fingers.  The  ancient  language  in 
which  the  archaic  forms  had  been  preserved  was  so 
nearly  lost  and  buried,  that  out  of  the  ooze  of  centu- 
ries of  oblivion,  it  had  to  be  rescued  by  the  skilled 
divers  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Mabuchi,  Motoori 
and  the  other  revivalists  of  pure  Shinto,  like  the  plung- 
ers after  orient  pearls,  persevered  until  they  had  first 
recovered  much  that  had  been  supposed  irretrievably 
lost.  These  scholars  deciphered  and  interpreted  the 
ancient  scriptures,  poetry,  prose,  history,  law  and  rit- 
ual, and  once  more  set  forth  the  ancient  faith,  as  they 
believed,  in  its  purity. 

Whether,  however,  men  can  exactly  reproduce  and 
think  for  themselves  the  thoughts  of  others  who  have 
been  dead  for  a  millennium,  is  an  open  question.  The 
new  system  is  apt  to  be  transparent.  Just  as  it  is 
nearly  impossible  for  us  to  restore  the  religious  life, 
thoughts  and  orthodoxy  of  the  men  who  lived  before 
the  flood,  so  in  the  writings  of  the  revivalists  of  pure 
Shinto  we  detect  the  thoughts  of  Dutchmen,  of  Chi- 
nese, and  of  very  modern  Japanese.  Unconsciously, 
those  who  would  breathe  into  the  dry  bones  of  dead 
Shinto  the  breath  of  the  nineteenth  century,  find 
themselves  compelled  to  use  an  oxygen  and  nitrogen 
generator  made  in  Holland  and  mounted  with  Chinese 
apparatus  ;  withal,  lacquered  and  decorated  with  the  art 
of  to-day.  To  change  from  metaphor  to  matter  of  fact, 
modern  "  pure  Shinto  "  is  mainly  a  mass  of  speculation 
and  philosophy,  with  a  tendency  of  which  the  ancient 
god-way  knew  nothing. 


THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         91 


The  Modern  Revivalists  of  Kami  no  Michi. 

Passing  by  further  mention  of  the  fifteen  or  more 
corrupt   sects    of   Shintoists,29   we   name   with  honor 
the    native    scholars     of    the    seventeenth    century, 
who  followed  the  illustrious  example  of  lyeyasu,  the 
political  unifier  of  Japan.     They  ransacked  the  coun- 
try and  purchased  from  temples,  mansions  and  farm- 
houses,   old    manuscripts   and    books,   and    forming 
libraries  began  anew  the  study  of  ancient  language 
and  history.     Keichu  (1640-1701),  a  Buddhist  priest, 
explored  and  illumined  the  poems  of  the  Manyoshu. 
Kada  Adzumaro,  born  in  1669  near  Kioto,  the  son  of 
a  shrine-keeper  at  Inari,  attempted  the  mastery  of  the 
whole   archaic   native    language   and    literature.     He 
made  a  grand   beginning.     He  is  unquestionably  the 
founder  of  the  school  of  Pure  Shinto.     He  died  in 
1736.     His  successor  and  pupil  was  Mabuchi  (1697- 
1769),  who  claimed  direct  descent  from  that  god  which 
in  the  form  of  a  colossal  crow  had  guided  the  first  chief 
of  the  Yamato  tribe  as  he  led  his  invaders  through  the 
country  to  found  the  line  of  Mikados.     After  Mabuchi 
came  Motoori  (1730-1801)   a  remarkable  scholar  and 
critic,  who,  with  erudition  and  acuteness,  analyzed  the 
ancient  literature  and  showed  what  were  Chinese  or 
imported   elements   and  what   was   of  native  origin. 
He  summarized  the  principles  of  the  ancient  religion, 
reasserted  and  illuminated  with  amazing  learning  and 
voluminous   commentary  the  archaic  documents,    ex- 
pounded and  defended  the  ancient  cosmogony,  and  in 
the  usual   style  of  Japanese  polemics  preached  anew 
the  doctrines  of  Shinto.     With  wonderful  naivete  and 


92  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

enthusiasm,  Motoori  taught  that  Japan  was  the  first 
part  of  the  earth  created,  and  that  it  is  therefore  The 
Land  of  the  Gods,  the  Country  of  the  Holy  Spirits. 
The  stars  were  created  from  the  muck  which  fell  from 
the  spear  of  Izanagi  as  he  thrust  it  into  the  warm 
earth,  while  the  other  countries  were  formed  by  the 
spontaneous  consolidation  of  the  foam  of  the  sea. 
Morals  were  invented  by  the  Chinese  because  they 
were  an  immoral  people,  but  in  Japan  there  is  110  ne- 
cessity for  any  system  of  morals,  as  every  Japanese 
acts  aright  if  he  only  consults  his  own  heart.  The 
duty  of  a  good  Japanese  consists  in  obeying  the  Mi- 
kado, without  questioning  whether  his  commands  are 
right  or  wrong.  The  Mikado  is  god  and  vicar  of  all 
the  gods,  hence  government  and  religion  are  the  same, 
the  Mikado  being  the  centre  of  Church  and  State, 
which  are  one.  Did  the  foreign  nations  know  their 
duty  they  would  at  once  hasten  to  pay  tribute  to  the 
Son  of  Heaven  in  Kioto. 

It  is  needless  here  to  dwell  upon  the  tremendous 
power  of  Shinto  as  a  political  system,  especially  when 
wedded  with  the  forces,  generated  in  the  minds  of  the 
educated  Japanese  by  modern  Confucianism.  The 
Chinese  ethical  system,  expanded  into  a  philosophy  as 
fascinating  as  the  English  materialistic  school  of  to- 
day, entered  Japan  contemporaneously  with  the  revival 
of  the  Way  of  the  Gods  and  of  native  learning.  In 
full  rampancy  of  their  vigor,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury these  two  systems  began  that  generation  of 
national  energy,  which  in  the  eighteenth  century  was 
consolidated  and  which  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
though  unknown  and  unsuspected  by  Europeans  or 
Americans,  was  all  ready  for  phenomenal  manifestation 


"THE  ROJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         93 

and  tremendous  eruption,  even  while  Perry's  fleet  was 
bearing  the  olive  branch  to  Japan.  As  we  all  know, 
this  consolidation  of  forces  from  the  inside,  on  meet- 
ing, not  with  collision  but  with  union,  the  exterior 
forces  of  western  civilization,  formed  a  resultant  in  the 
energies  which  have  made  New  Japan. 

The  Great  Purification  of  1870. 

In  1870,  with  the  Shogun  of  Yedo  deposed,  the  dual 
system  abolished,  feudalism  in  its  last  gasp  and 
Shinto  in  full  political  power,  with  the  ancient  council 
of  the  gods  (Jin  Gi  Kuan)  once  more  established,  and 
purified  Shinto  again  the  religion  of  state,  thousands 
of  Riyobu  Shinto  temples  were  at  once  purged  of 
all  their  Buddhist  ornaments,  furniture,  ritual,  and 
everything  that  might  remind  the  Japanese  of  foreign 
elements.  Then  began,  logically  and  actually,  the 
persecution  of  those  Christians,  who  through  all  the 
centuries  of  repression  and  prohibition  had  continued 
their  existence,  and  kept  their  faith  however  mixed 
and  clouded.  Theoretically,  ancient  belief  was  re-es- 
tablished, yet  it  was  both  physically  and  morally  im- 
possible to  return  wholly  to  the  baldness  and  austere 
simplicity  of  those  early  ages,  in  which  art  and  litera- 
ture were  unknown.  For  a  while  it  seemed  as  though 
the  miracle  would  be  performed,  of  turning  back  the 
dial  of  the  ages  and  of  plunging  Japan  into  the  foun- 
tain of  her  own  youth.  Propaganda  was  instituted, 
and  the  attempts  made  to  convert  all  the  Japanese  to 
Shinto  tenets  and  practice  were  for  a  while  more  lively 
than  edifying  ;  but  the  scheme  was  on  the  whole  a 
splendid  failure,  and  bitter  disappointment  succeeded 


94  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  first  exultation  of  victory.  Confronted  by  modern 
problems  of  society  and  government,  the  Mikado's 
ministers  found  themselves  unable,  if  indeed  willing, 
to  entomb  politics  in  religion,  as  in  the  ancient  ages. 
For  a  little  while,  in  1868,  the  Jin  Gi  Kuan,  or  Council 
of  the  Gods  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  held  equal  authority 
with  the  Dai  Jo  Kuan,  or  Great  Council  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Pretty  soon  the  first  step  downward  was  taken, 
and  from  a  supreme  council  it  was  made  one  of  the  ten 
departments  of  the  government.  In  less  than  a  year 
followed  another  retrograde  movement  and  the  depart- 
ment was  called  a  board.  Finally,  in  1877,  the  board 
became  a  bureau.  Now,  it  is  hard  to  tell  what  rank 
the  Shinto  cultus  occupies  in  the  government,  except 
as  a  system  of  guardianship  over  the  imperial  tombs,  a 
mode  of  official  etiquette,  and  as  one  of  the  acknowl- 
edged religions  of  the  country.30 

Nevertheless,  as  an  element  in  that  amalgam  of  relig- 
ions which  forms  the  creed  of  most  Japanese,  Shinto 
is  a  living  force,  and  shares  with  Buddhism  the  arena 
against  advancing  Christianity,  still  supplying  much 
of  the  spring  and  motive  to  patriotism. 

The  Shinto  lecturers  with  unblushing  plagiarism 
rifled  the  storehouses  of  Chinese  ethics.  They  en- 
forced their  lessons  from  the  Confucian  classics.  In- 
deed, most  of  their  homiletical  and  illustrative  material 
is  still  derived  directly  therefrom.  Their  three  main 
official  theses  and  commandments  were  : 

1.  Thou  shalt  honor  the  Gods  and  love  thy  country. 

2  Thou  shalt  clearly  understand  the  principles  of  Heaven, 
and  the  duty  of  man. 

3.  Thou  shalt  revere  the  Emperor  as  thy  sovereign  and  obey 
the  will  of  his  Court. 


"THE  KOJIKI"   AND  ITS  TEACHINGS          95 

For  nearly  twenty  years  this  deliverance  of  the  Jap- 
anese Government,  which  still  finds  its  strongest  sup- 
port in  the  national  traditions  and  the  reverence  of  the 
people  for  the  throne,  sufficed  for  the  necessities  of 
the  case.  Then  the  copious  infusion  of  foreign  ideas, 
the  disintegration  of  the  old  framework  of  society,  and 
the  weakening  of  the  old  ties  of  obedience  and  loyalty, 
with  the  flood  of  shallow  knowledge  and  education 
which  gave  especially  children  and  young  people  just 
enough  of  foreign  ideas  to  make  them  dangerous, 
brought  about  a  condition  of  affairs  which  alarmed  the 
conservative  and  patriotic.  Like  fungus  upon  a  dead 
tree  strange  growths  had  appeared,  among  others  that 
of  a  class  of  violently  patriotic  and  half  educated  young 
men  and  boys,  called  Soshi.  These  hot  headed  youths 
took  it  upon  themselves  to  dictate  national  policy  to 
cabinet  ministers,  and  to  reconstruct  society,  religion 
and  politics.  Something  like  a  mania  broke  out  all 
over  the  country  which,  in  certain  respects,  reminds  us 
of  the  Children's  Crusade,  that  once  afflicted  Europe 
and  the  children  themselves.  Even  Christianity  did 
not  escape  the  craze  for  reconstruction.  Some  of  the 
young  believers  and  pupils  of  the  missionaries  seemed 
determined  to  make  Christianity  all  over  so  as  to  suit 
themselves.  This  phase  of  brain- swelling  is  not  yet 
wholly  over.  One  could  not  tell  but  that  something 
like  the  Tai  Ping  rebellion,  which  disturbed  and  de- 
vastated China,  might  break  out. 

These  portentous  signs  on  the  social  horizon  called 
forth,  in  1892,  from  the  government  an  Imperial  Ee- 
script,  which  required  that  the  emperor's  photograph 
be  exhibited  in  every  school,  and  saluted  by  all  teach- 
ers and  scholars  whatever  their  religious  tenets  and, 


96  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

scruples  might  be.  Most  Christians  as  well  as  Buddh- 
ists, saw  nothing  in  this  at  which  to  scruple.  A  few, 
however,  finding  in  it  an  offence  to  conscience,  resigned 
their  positions.  They  considered  the  mandate  an  un- 
warrantable interference  with  their  rights  as  conferred 
by  the  constitution  of  1889,  which  in  theory  is  the  gift 
of  the  emperor  to  his  people. 

The  radical  Shintoist,  to  this  day,  believes  that  all 
political  rights  which  Japanese  enjoy  or  can  enjoy  are 
by  virtue  of  the  Mikado's  grace  and  benevolence.  It  is 
certain  that  all  Japanese,  whatever  may  be  their  relig- 
ious convictions,  consider  that  the  cor  stitution  depends 
for  its  safeguards  and  its  validity  largely  upon  the  oath 
which  the  Mikado  swore  at  the  shrine  of  his  heavenly 
ancestors,  that  he  would  himself  be  obedient  to  it  and 
preserve  its  provisions  inviolate.  For  this  solemn  cere- 
mony a  special  norito  or  liturgy  was  composed  and  re- 
cited. 

Summary  of  Shinto. 

Of  Shinto  as  a  system  we  have  long  ago  given  our 
opinion.  In  its  higher  forms,  "  Shinto  is  simply  a 
cultured  and  intellectual  atheism;  in  its  lower  forms  it 
is  blind  obedience  to  governmental  and  priestly  dic- 
tates." "  Shinto,"  says  Mr.  Ernest  Satow,  "  as  ex- 
pounded by  Motoori  is  nothing  more  than  an  engine 
for  reducing  the  people  to  a  condition  of  mental  slav- 
ery." Japan  being  a  country  of  very  striking  natural 
phenomena,  the  very  soil  and  air  lend  themselves  to 
support  in  the  native  mind  this  system  of  worship  of 
heroes  and  of  the  forces  of  nature.  In  spite,  however, 
of  the  conservative  power  of  the  ancestral  influences, 
the  patriotic  incentives  and  the  easy  morals  of  Shinto 


"THE  KOJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS         97 

under  which  lying  and  licentiousness  shelter  themselves, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  with  the  pressure  of  Buddhism, 
and  the  spread  of  popular  education  and  Christianity, 
Shinto  can  retain  its  hold  upon  the  Japanese  people. 
Yet  although  this  is  our  opinion,  it  is  but  fair,  and  it 
is  our  duty,  to  judge  every  religion  by  its  ideals  and 
not  by  its  failings.  The  ideal  of  Shinto  is  to  make 
people  pure  and  clean  in  all  their  personal  and  house- 
hold arrangements ;  it  is  to  help  them  to  live  simply, 
honestly  and  with  mutual  good  will ;  it  is  to  make  the 
Japanese  love  their  country,  honor  their  imperial 
house  and  obey  their  emperor.  Narrow  and  local  as 
this  religion  is,  it  has  had  grand  exemplars  in  noble 
lives  and  winning  characters. 

So  far  as  Shinto  is  a  religion,  Christianity  meets  it 
not  as  destroyer  but  fulfiller,  for  it  too  believes  that 
cleanliness  is  not  only  next  to  godliness  but  a  part  of 
it.  Jesus  as  perfect  man  and  patriot,  Captain  of  our 
salvation  and  Prince  of  peace,  would  not  destroy  the 
Yamato  damashii — the  spirit  of  unconquerable  Japan 
—but  rather  enlarge,  broaden,  and  deepen  it,  making  it 
love  for  all  humanity.  Eeverence  for  ancestral  virtue 
and  example,  so  far  from  being  weakened,  is  strength- 
ened, and  as  for  devotion  to  king  and  ruler,  law  and 
society,  Christianity  lends  nobler  motives  and  grander 
sanctions,  while  showing  clearly,  not  indeed  the  way  of 
the  eight  million  or  more  gods,  but  the  way  to  God — 
the  one  living,  only  and  true,  even  through  Him  who 
said  "I  am  the  Way," 

7 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL   SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN 


"  Things  being  investigated,  knowledge  became  complete ;  knowledge  be- 
ing complete,  thoughts  were  sincere ;  thoughts  being  sincere,  hearts  were 
rectified ;  hearts  being  rectified,  persons  were  cultivated ;  persons  being 
cultivated,  families  were  regulated ;  families  being  regulated,  states  were 
rightly  governed ;  states  being  rightly  governed,  the  whole  nation  was 
made  tranquil  and  happy." 

"  When  you  know  a  thing  to  hold  that  you  know  it ;  and  when  you  do 
not  know  a  thing  to  allow  that  you  do  not  know  it ;  this  is  knowledge." 

"  Old  age  sometimes  becomes  second  childhood ;  why  should  not  filial 
piety  become  parental  love  ?  " 

4 '  The  superior  man  accords  with  the  course  of  the  mean.  Though  he 
may  be  all  unknown,  unregarded  by  the  world,  he  feels  no  regret.  He  is 
only  the  sage  who  is  able  for  this." — Sayings  of  Confucius. 

"  There  is,  in  a  word,  no  bringing  down  of  God  to  men  in  Confucianism 
in  order  to  lift  them  up  to  Him.  Their  moral  shortcomings,  when  brought 
home  to  them,  may  produce  a  feeling  of  shame,  but  hardly  a  conviction  of 
guilt." — James  Legge. 

"Do  not  to  others  what  you  would  not  have  them  do  to  you," — The 
Silver  Rule. 

u  All  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even 
so  to  them."— The  Golden  Rule. 

"  In  respect  to  revenging  injury  done  to  master  or  father,  it  is  granted  by 
the  wise  and  virtuous  (Confucius)  that  you  and  the  injurer  cannot  live  to- 
gether under  the  canopy  of  heaven." — Legacy  of  lyeyasu,  Cap.  lii.,  Low- 
der's  translation. 

"But  I  say  unto  you  forgive  your  enemies. "—Jesus. 

"  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  our  father,  our  redeemer,  thy  name  is  from  ever- 
lasting. "—Isaiah. 


CHAPTER  IV      : 

THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  i , 
Confucius  a  Historical  Character 

IF  the  greatness  of  a  teacher  is  to  be  determined  by 
the  number  of  his  disciples,  or  to  be  measured  by  the 
extent  and  diversity  of  his  influence,  then  the  foremost 
place  among  all  the  teachers  of  mankind  must  be 
awarded  to  The  Master  Kung  (or  Confucius,  as  the 
Jesuit  scholars  of  the  seventeenth  century  Latinized 
the  name).  Certainly,  he  of  all  truly  historic  person- 
ages is  to-day,  and  for  twenty-three  centuries  has  been, 
honored  by  the  largest  number  of  followers. 

Of  the  many  systems  of  religion  in  the  world,  but 
few  are  based  upon  the  teachings  of  one  person.  The 
reputed  founders  of  some  of  them  are  not  known  in 
history  with  any  certainty,  and  of  others — as  in  the 
case  of  Buddhism — have  become  almost  as  shadows 
among  a  great  throng  of  imaginary  Buddhas  or  other 
beings  which  have  sprung  from  the  fancies  of  the  brain 
and  become  incorporated  into  the  systems,  although 
the  original  teachers  may  indeed  have  been  historical. 

Confucius  is  a  clear  and  distinct  historic  person. 
His  parentage,  place  of  birth,  public  life,  offices,  work 
and  teaching,  are  well  known  and  properly  authenti- 
cated. He  used  the  pen  freely,  and  not  only  compiled, 
edited  and  transmitted  the  writings  of  his  predecessors, 


102  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

but  composed  an  historical  and  interpretative  book. 
He  originated  nothing,  however,  but  on  the  contrary 
disowned  any  purpose  of  introducing  new  ideas,  or  of 
expressing  thoughts  of  his  own  not  based  upon  or  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  teaching  of  the  ancients.  He 
was  not  an  original  thinker.  He  was  a  compiler,  an 
editor,  a  defender  -and  reproclaimer  of  the  ancient  re- 
ligioni  and  an'  exemplar  of  the  wisdom  and  writings  of 
the  Chinese  fathers.  He  felt  that  his  duty  was  exact- 
ly that  which  some  Christian  theologians  of  to-day 
conscientiously  feel  to  be  theirs — to  receive  intact  a 
certain  "  deposit "  or  "  system  "  and,  adding  nothing  to 
it,  simply  to  teach,  illuminate,  defend,  enforce  and 
strongly  maintain  it  as  "the  truth."  He  gloried  in 
absolute  freedom  from  all  novelty,  anticipating  in  this 
respect  a  certain  illustrious  American  who  made  it  a 
matter  for  boasting,  that  his  school  had  never  origi- 
nated a  new  idea.1  Whether  or  not  the  Master  Kung 
did  nevertheless,  either  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
modify  the  ancient  system  by  abbreviating  or  enlarg- 
ing it,  we  cannot  now  inquire. 

Confucius  was  born  into  the  world  in  the  year  551 
B.C.,  during  that  wonderful  century  of  religious  revival 
which  saw  the  birth  of  Ezra,  Gautama,  and  Lao  Tsze, 
and  in  boyhood  he  displayed  an  unusually  sedate  tem- 
perament which  made  him  seem  to  be  what  we  would 
now  call  an  "  old-fashioned  child."  The  period  during 
which  he  lived  was  that  of  feudal  China.  From  the 
age  of  twenty-two,  while  holding  an  office  in  the  state 
of  Lu  within  the  modern  province  of  Shan-Tung,  he 
gathered  around  him  young  men  as  pupils  with  whom, 
like  Socrates,  he  conversed  in  question  and  answer. 
He  made  the  teachings  of  the  ancients  the  subjects  of 


THE  GHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    103 

his  research,  and  he  was  at  all  times  a  diligent  student. 
The  sacred,  or  at  least  canonical,  books  are  called 
King,  or  Kio  in  Japanese,  and  are :  Shu  King,  a  collec- 
tion of  historic  documents;  Shih  King,  or  Book  of 
Odes ;  Hsiao  King,  or  Classic  of  Filial  Piety,  and  Yi 
King,  or  Book  of  Changes.*  This  division  of  the  old 
sacred  canon,  resembles  the  Christian  or  non-Jewish 
arrangement  of  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  in  the 
four  parts  of  Law,  History,  Poetry  and  Prophesy, 
though  in  the  Chinese  we  have  History,  Poetry,  Ethics 
and  Divination.3 

His  own  table-talk,  conversations,  discussions  and 
notes  were  compiled  by  his  pupils,  and  are  preserved 
in  the  work  entitled  in  English,  "  The  Confucian  Ana- 
lects," which  is  one  of  the  four  books  constituting  the 
most  sacred  portion  of  Chinese  philosophy  and  in- 
struction. He  also  wrote  a  work  named  "  Spring  and 
Autumn,  or  Chronicles  of  his  Native  State  of  Lu  from 
722  B.C.,  to  481 4  B.C."  He  "changed  his  world,"  as 
the  Buddhists  say,  in  the  year  478  B.C.,  having  lived 
seventy-three  years. 

Primitive  Chinese  Faith. 

The  pre-Confucian  or  primitive  faith  was  mono- 
theistic, the  forefathers  of  the  Chinese  nation  having 
been  believers  in  one  Supreme  Spiritual  Being.  There 
was  formerly  general  agreement  among  scholars  in 
translating  the  term  "  Shang  Ti  "  as  God,  and  in  read- 
ing from  these  classics  that  the  forefathers  "  in  the 
ceremonies  at  the  altars  of  Heaven  and  earth  .  .  , 
served  God."  Concurrently  with  the  worship  of  one 
Supreme  God  there  was  also  a  belief  in  subordinate 
spirits  and  in  the  idea  of  revelation  or  the  communi- 


104  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

cation  of  God  with  men.  This  restricted  worship  of 
God  was  accompanied  by  reverence  for  ancestors  and 
the  honoring  of  spirits  by  prayers  and  sacrifices,  which 
resulted,  however,  neither  in  deification  nor  polythe- 
ism. But,  as  the  European  mediaeval  schoolmen  have 
done  with  the  Bible,  so,  after  the  death  of  Confucius 
the  Chinese  scholastics  by  metaphysical  reasoning 
and  commentary,  created  systems  of  interpretation 
which  greatly  altered  the  apparent  form  and  contents 
of  his  own  and  of  the  ancient  texts.  Thus,  the  origi- 
nal monotheism  of  the  pre-Confucian  documents  has 
been  completely  obscured  by  the  later  webs  of  sophis- 
try which  have  been  woven  about  the  original  scriptures. 
The  ancient  simplicity  of  doctrine  has  been  lost  in  the 
mountains  of  commentary  which  were  piled  upon  the 
primitive  texts.  Throughout  the  centuries,  the  Con- 
fucian system  has  been  conditioned  and  greatly  modi- 
fied by  Taoism,  Buddhism  and  the  speculations  of  the 
Chinese  wise  men. 

Confucius,  however,  did  not  change  or  seriously 
modify  the  ancient  religion  except  that,  as  is  more 
than  probable,  he  may  have  laid  unnecessary  emphasis 
upon  social  and  political  duties,  and  may  not  have 
been  sufficiently  interested  in  the  honor  to  be  paid  to 
Shang  Ti  or  God.  He  practically  ignored  the  God- 
ward  side  of  man's  duties.  His  teachings  relate 
chiefly  to  duties  between  man  and  man,  to  propriety 
and  etiquette,  and  to  ceremony  and  usage.  He  said 
that  "  To  give  one's  self  to  the  duties  due  to  men  and 
while  respecting  spiritual  beings  to  keep  aloof  from 
them,  may  be  called  wisdom.  "5 

We  think  that  Confucius  cut  the  tap-root  of  all  true 
progress,  and  therefore  is  largely  responsible  for  the 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    105 

arrested  development  of  China.  He  avoided  the  per- 
sonal term,  God  (Ti),  and  instead,  made  use  of  the  ab- 
stract term,  Heaven  (Tien).  His  teaching,  which  is  so 
often  quoted  by  Japanese  gentlemen,  was,  "  Honor  the 
Gods  and  keep  them  far  from  you."  His  image  stands 
in  thousands  of  temples  and  in  every  school,  in  China, 
but  he  is  only  revered  and  never  deified. 

China  has  for  ages  suffered  from  agnosticism ;  for  no 
normal  Confucian  is  t  can  love  God,  though  he  may 
learn  to  reverence  him.  The  Emperor  periodically 
worships  for  his  people,  at  the  great  marble  altar  to 
Heaven  in  Peking,  with  vast  holocausts,  and  the  pray- 
ers which  are  offered  may  possibly  amount  to  this : 
"  Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy 
name."  But  there,  as  it  seems  to  a  Christian,  Chinese 
imperial  worship  stops.  The  people  at  large,  cut  off 
by  this  restricted  worship  from  direct  access  to  God, 
have  wandered  away  into  every  sort  of  polytheism  and 
idolatry,  while  the  religion  of  the  educated  Chinese  is 
a  mediaeval  philosophy  based  upon  Confucianism,  of 
which  we  shall  speak  hereafter. 

The  Confucian  system  as  a  religion,  like  a  giant 
with  a  child's  head,  is  exaggerated  on  its  moral  and 
ceremonial  side  as  compared  with  its  spiritual  devel- 
opment. Some  deny  that  it  is  a  religion  at  all,  and 
call  it  only  a  code.  However,  let  us  examine  the  Con- 
fucian ethics  which  formed  the  basis  and  norm  of  all 
government  in  the  family  and  nation,  and  are  summed 
up  in  the  doctrine  of  the  "Five  Kelations."  These 
are :  Sovereign  and  Minister  ;  Father  and  Son  ;  Hus- 
band and  Wife  ;  Elder  Brother  and  Younger  Brother ; 
and  Friends.  The  relation  being  stated,  the  correla- 
tive duty  arises  at  once.  It  may  perhaps  be  truly  said 


106  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

by  Christians  that  Confucius  might  have  made  a  re- 
ligion of  his  system  of  ethics,  by  adding  a  sixth  and 
supreme  relation — that  between  God  and  man.  This 
he  declined  to  do,  and  so  left  his  people  without  any 
aspiration  toward  the  Infinite.  By  setting  before 
them  only  a  finite  goal  he  sapped  the  principles  of 
progress.6 

Vicissitudes  of  Confucianism. 

After  the  death  of  Confucius  (478  B.C.)  the  teachings 
of  the  great  master  were  neglected,  but  still  later 
they  were  re-enforced  and  expounded  in  the  time 
(372-289  B.C.)  of  Meng  Ko,  or  Mencius  (as  the  name 
has  been  Latinized)  who  was  likewise  a  native  of  the 
State  of  Lu.  At  one  time  a  Chinese  Emperor  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  destroy  not  only  the  writings  of 
Confucius  but  also  the  ancient  classics.  Taoism  in- 
creased as  a  power  in  the  religion  of  China,  especially 
after  the  fall  of  its  feudal  system.  The  doctrine  of  an- 
cestral worship  as  commended  by  the  sage  had  in  it 
much  of  good,  both  for  kings  and  nobles.  The  com- 
mon people,  however,  found  that  Taoism  was  more  sat- 
isfying. About  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era 
Buddhism  entered  the  Middle  Kingdom,  and,  rapidly 
becoming  popular,  supplied  needs  for  which  simple 
Confucianism  was  not  adequate.  It  may  be  said  that 
in  the  sixth  century — which  concerns  us  especially— 
although  Confucianism  continued  to  be  highly  es- 
teemed, Buddhism  had  become  supreme  in  China — 
that  venerable  State  which  is  the  mother  of  civiliza- 
tion in  all  Asia  east  of  the  Ganges,  and  the  Middle 
Kingdom  among  pupil  nations. 

Confucianism   overflowed  from  China  into  Korea, 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    107 

where  to  this  day  it  is  predominant  even  over  Buddh- 
ism. Thence,  it  was  carried  beyond  sea  to  the  Jap- 
anese Archipelago,  where  for  possibly  fifteen  hundred 
years  it  has  shaped  and  moulded  the  character  of  a 
brave  and  chivalrous  people.  Let  us  now  turn  from 
China  and  trace  its  influence  and  modifications  in  the 
Land  of  the  Eising  Sun. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  sixth  century  of 
the  Christian  Era,  Confucianism  was  by  no  means  the 
fully  developed  philosophy  that  it  is  now  and  has  been 
for  five  hundred  years.  In  former  times,  the  system  of 
Confucius  had  been  received  in  China  not  only  as  a 
praiseworthy  compendium  of  ceremonial  observances, 
but  also  as  an  inheritance  from  the  ancients,  illumined 
by  the  discourses  of  the  great  sage  and  illustrated  by 
his  life  and  example.  It  was,  however,  very  far  from 
being  what  it  is  at  present — the  religion  of  the  edu- 
cated men  of  the  nation,  and,  by  excellence,  the  relig- 
ion of  Chinese  Asia.  But  in  those  early  centuries  it 
did  not  fully  satisfy  the  Chinese  mind,  which  turned 
to  the  philosophy  of  Taoism  and  to  the  teachings  of  the 
Buddhist  for  intellectual  food,  for  comfort  and  for  in- 
spiration. 

The  time  when  Chinese  learning  entered  Japan,  by 
the  way  of  Korea,  has  not  been  precisely  ascertained.7 
It  is  possible  that  letters 8  and  writings  were  known 
in  some  parts  of  the  country  as  early  as  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, but  it  is  nearly  certain,  that,  outside  the  Court  of 
the  Emperor,  there  was  scarcely  even  a  sporadic  knowl- 
edge of  the  literature  of  China  until  the  Korean  mis- 
sionaries of  Buddhism  had  obtained  a  lodgement  in  the 
Mikado's  capital.  Buddhism  was  the  real  purveyor  of 
the  foreign  learning  and  became  the  vehicle  by  means 


108  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  which  Confucianism,  or  the  Chinese  ethical  princi- 
ples, reached  the  common  people  of  Japan.  The  first 
missionaries  in  Japan  were  heartily  in  sympathy  with 
the  Confucian  ethics,  from  which  no  effort  was  made 
to  alienate  them.  They  were  close  allies,  and  for  a 
thousand  years  wrought  as  one  force  in  the  national 
life.  They  were  not  estranged  until  the  introduction, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  of  the  metaphysical  and 
scholastic  forms  given  to  the  ancient  system  by  the  Chi- 
nese schoolmen  of  the  Sung  dynasty  (A.D.  960-1333). 

Japanese  Confucianism  and  Feudalism  Contemporary. 

The  intellectual  history  of  the  Japanese  prior  to 
their  recent  contact  with  Christendom,  may  be  divided 
into  three  eras  : 

1.  The  period   of   early  insular   or  purely  native 
thought,  from  before  the  Christian  era  until  the  eighth 
century  ;  by  which  time,  Shinto,  or  the  indigenous  sys- 
tem of  worship — its  ritual,  poetry  and  legend  having 
been  committed  to  writing  and   its  life   absorbed  in 
Buddhism — had  been,  as  a  system,  relegated  from  tli€ 
nation  and  the  people  to  a  small  circle  of  scholars  and 
archaeologists. 

2.  The  period  from  800  A.D.  to  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth   century ;   during   which   time  Buddhism 
furnished  to  the   nation  its  religion,  philosophy  and 
culture. 

3.  From  about  1630  A.D.  until  the  present  time  ;  dur- 
ing which  period  the  developed   Confucian   philoso- 
phy, as  set  forth  by  Chu  Hi  in  the  twelfth  century, 
has  been  the  creed  of  a  majority  of  the  educated  men 
of  Japan. 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    109 

The  political  history  of  the  Japanese  may  also  be 
divided  into  three  eras : 

1.  The  first  extends  from  the  dawn  of  history  until 
the  seventh  century.     During  this  period  the  system 
of  government  was  that  of  rude  feudalism.     The  con- 
quering tribe  of  Yamato,  having  gradually  obtained  a 
rather  imperfect  supremacy  over  the  other  tribes  in  the 
middle  and  southern  portions  of  the  country  now  called 
the  Empire  of  Japan,  ruled  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Mikado. 

2.  The  second  period  begins  in   the   seventh   cen- 
tury, when  the  Japanese,  copying  the  Chinese  model, 
adopted  a  system  of  centralization.     The  country  was 
divided  into  provinces  and  was  ruled  through  boards 
or  ministries  at  the  capital,  with  governors  sent  out 
from  Kioto  for  stated  periods,  directly  from  the  em- 
peror.     During  this  time  literature   was   chiefly   the 
work  of  the  Buddhist  priests  and  of  the  women  of  the 
imperial  court. 

While  armies  in  the  field  brought  into  subjection 
the  outlying  tribes  and  certain  noble  families  rose  to 
prominence  at  the  court,  there  was  being  formed  that 
remarkable  class  of  men  called  the  Samurai,  or  servants 
of  the  Mikado,  which  for  more  than  ten  centuries  has 
exercised  a  profound  influence  upon  the  development 
of  Japan. 

In  China,  the  pen  and  the  sword  have  been  kept 
apart ;  the  civilian  and  the  soldier,  the  man  of  letters 
and  the  man  of  arms,  have  been  distinct  and  separate. 
This  was  also  true  in  old  Loo  Choo  (now  Biu  Kiu), 
that  part  of  Japan  most  like  China.  In  Japan,  how- 
ever, the  pen  and  the  sword,  letters  and  arms,  the 
civilian  and  the  soldier,  have  intermingled.  The 


110  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

unique  product  of  this  union  is  seen  in  the  Samurai,  or 
servant  of  the  Mikado.  Military-literati,  are  unknown 
in  China,  but  in  Japan  they  carried  the  sword  and  the 
pen  in  the  same  girdle. 

3.  This  class  of  men  had  become  fully  formed  by  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  then  began  the  new 
feudal  system,  which  lasted  until  the  epochal  year  1868 
A.D. — a  year  of  several  revolutions,  rather  than  of  res- 
toration pure  and  simple.  After  nearly  seven  hun- 
dred years  of  feudalism,  supreme  magistracy,  with 
power  vastly  increased  beyond  that  possessed  in  an- 
cient times,  was  restored  to  the  emperor.  Then  also 
was  abolished  the  duarchy  of  Throne  and  Camp,  of 
Mikado  and  Shogun,  and  of  the  two  capitals  Kioto  and 
Yedo,  with  the  fountain  of  honor  and  authority  in  one 
and  the  fountain  of  power  and  execution  in  the  other. 
Thereupon,  Japan  once  more  presented  to  the  world, 
unity. 

Practically,  therefore,  the  period  of  the  prevalence  of 
the  Confucian  ethics  and  their  universal  acceptance  by 
the  people  of  Japan  nearly  coincides  with  the  period 
of  Japanese  feudalism  or  the  dominance  of  the  military 
classes. 

Although  the  same  ideograph,  or  rather  logogram, 
was  used  to  designate  the  Chinese  scholar  and  the 
Japanese  warrior  as  well,  yet  the  former  was  man  of 
the  pen  only,  while  the  latter  was  man  of  the  pen  and 
of  two  swords.  This  historical  fact,  more  than  any 
other,  accounts  for  the  striking  differences  between 
Chinese  and  Japanese  Confucianism.  Under  this 
state  of  things  the  ethical  system  of  the  sage  of  China 
suffered  a  change,  as  does  almost  everything  that  is  im- 
ported into  Japan  and  borrowed  by  the  islanders,  but 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    111 

whether  for  the  better  or  for  the  worse  we  shall  not 
inquire  too  carefully.  The  point  upon  which  we  now 
lay  emphasis  is  this :  that,  although  the  Chinese 
teacher  had  made  filial  piety  the  basis  of  his  system, 
the  Japanese  gradually  but  surely  made  loyalty  (Kun- 
Shin),  that  is,  the  allied  relations  of  sovereign  and 
minister,  of  lord  and  retainer,  and  of  master  and  ser- 
vant, not  only  first  in  order  but  the  chief  of  all. 
They  also  infused  into  this  term  ideas  and  associations 
which  are  foreign  to  the  Chinese  mind.  In  the  place 
of  filial  piety  was  Kun-shin,  that  new  growth  in  the 
garden  of  Japanese  ethics,  out  of  which  arose  the  white 
flower  of  loyalty  that  blooms  perennial  in  history. 


In  Japan,  Loyalty  Displaces  Filial  Piety. 

This  slow  but  sure  adaptation  of  the  exotic  to  its 
new  environment,  took  place  during  the  centuries  pre- 
vious to  the  seventeenth  of  the  Christian  era.  The 
completed  product  presented  a  growth  so  strikingly 
different  from  the  original  as  to  compel  the  wonder  of 
those  Chinese  refugee  scholars,  who,  at  Mito9  and 
Yedo,  taught  the  later  dogmas  which  are  orthodox  but 
not  historically  Confucian. 

Herein  lies  the  difference  between  Chinese  and 
Japanese  ethical  philosophy.  In  old  Japan,  loyalty  was 
above  filial  obedience,  and  the  man  who  deserted 
parents,  wife  and  children  for  the  feudal  lord,  received 
unstinted  praise.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Japanese 
edifice  of  personal  righteousness  and  public  weal,  is 
loyalty.  On  the  other  hand,  filial  piety  is  the  basis  of 
Chinese  order  and  the  secret  of  the  amazing  national 


112  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

longevity,  which  is  one  of  the  moral  wonders  of  the 
world,  and  sure  proof  of  the  fulfilment  of  that  promise 
which  was  made  on  Sinai  and  wrapped  up  in  the  fourth 
commandment. 

This  master  passion  of  the  typical  Samurai  of  old 
Japan  made  him  regard  life  as  infinitely  less  than  noth- 
ing, whenever  duty  demanded  a  display  of  the  virtue  of 
loyalty.  "  The  doctrines  of  Koshi  and  Moshi "  (Con- 
fucius and  Mencius)  formed,  and  possibly  even  yet 
form,  the  gospel  and  the  quintessence  of  all  wordly 
wisdom  to  the  Japanese  gentleman ;  they  became  the 
basis  of  his  education  and  the  ideal  which  inspired  his 
conceptions  of  duty  and  honor ;  but,  crowning  all  his 
doctrines  and  aspirations  was  his  desire  to  be  loyal. 
There  might  abide  loyal,  marital,  filial,  fraternal  and 
various  other  relations,  but  the  greatest  of  all  these  was 
loyalty.  Hence  the  Japanese  calendar  of  saints  is  not 
filled  with  reformers,  alms -givers  and  founders  of  hos- 
pitals or  orphanages,  but  is  over-crowded  with  canon- 
ized suicides  and  committers  of  hara-kiri.  Even  to- 
day, no  man  more  quickly  wins  the  popular  regard 
during  his  life  or  more  surely  draws  homage  to  his 
tomb,  securing  even  apotheosis,  than  the  suicide, 
though  he  may  have  committed  a  crime.  In  this  era  of 
Meiji  or  enlightened  peace,  most  appalling  is  the  list  of 
assassinations  beginning  with  the  murder  in  Kioto  of 
Yokoi  Heishiro,  who  was  slain  for  recommending  the 
toleration  of  Christianity,  down  to  the  last  cabinet  min- 
ister who  has  been  knifed  or  dynamited.  Yet  in  every 
case  the  murderers  considered  themselves  consecrated 
men  and  ministers  of  Heaven's  righteous  vengeance.10 
For  centuries,  and  until  constitutional  times,  the  gov- 
ernment of  Japan  was  "  despotism  tempered  by  as- 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    113 

sassination."  The  old-fashioned  way  of  moving  a  vote 
of  censure  upon  the  king's  ministers  was  to  take  off 
their  heads.  Now,  however,  election  by  ballot  has 
been  substituted  for  this,  and  two  million  swords  have 
become  bric-a-brac. 

A  thousand  years  of  training  in  the  ethics  of  Con- 
fucius—  which  always  admirably  lends  itself  to  the 
possessors  of  absolute  power,  whether  emperors,  feu- 
dal lords,  masters,  fathers,  or  older  brothers — have  so 
tinged  and  colored  every  conception  of  the  Japanese 
mind,  so  dominated  their  avenues  of  understanding 
and  shaped  their  modes  of  thought,  that  to-day,  not- 
withstanding the  recent  marvellous  development  of 
their  language,  which  within  the  last  two  decades  has 
made  it  almost  a  new  tongue,11  it  is  impossible  with 
perfect  accuracy  to  translate  into  English  the  ordinary 
Japanese  terms  which  are  congregated  under  the  gen- 
eral idea  of  Kim-shin. 

Herein  may  be  seen  the  great  benefit  of  carefully 
studying  the  minds  of  those  whom  we  seek  to  convert. 
The  Christian  preacher  in  Japan  who  uses  our  terms 
"heaven,"  "home,"  "mother,"  "father,"  "family," 
"wife,"  "people,"  "love,"  "reverence,"  "virtue,"  "chas- 
tity," etc.,  will  find  that  his  hearers  may  indeed  re- 
ceive them,  but  not  at  all  with  the  same  mental  images 
and  associations,  nor  with  the  same  proportion  and 
depth,  that  these  words  command  in  western  thought 
and  hearing.  One  must  be  exceedingly  careful,  not 
only  in  translating  terms  which  have  been  used  by 
Confucius  in  the  Chinese  texts,  but  also  in  selecting 
and  rendering  the  current  expressions  of  the  Japanese 
teachers  and  philosophers.  In  order  to  understand 
each  other,  Orientals  and  Occidentals  need  a  great  deal 
8 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  mutual  intellectual  drilling,  without  which  there  will 
be  waste  of  money,  of  time,  of  brains  and  of  life. 

The  Five  Relations. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  fundamentals  of  the  Confu- 
cian ethics — the  Five  Relations — as  they  were  taught 
in  the  comparatively  simple  system  which  prevailed 
before  the  new  orthodoxy  was  proclaimed  by  Sung 
schoolmen. 

First.  Although,  each  of  the  Chinese  and  Japa- 
nese emperors  is  supposed  to  be,  and  is  called,  "  father 
of  the  people,"  yet  it  would  be  entirely  wrong  to  im- 
agine that  the  phrase  implies  any  such  relation,  as  that 
of  William  the  Silent  to  the  Dutch,  or  of  Washington  to 
the  American  nation.  In  order  to  see  how  far  the  em- 
peror was  removed  from  the  people  during  a  thousand 
years,  one  needs  but  to  look  upon  a  brilliant  painting  of 
the  Yamato-Tosa  school,  in  which  the  Mikado  is  repre- 
sented as  sitting  behind  a  cloud  of  gold  or  a  thick  cur- 
tain of  fine  bamboo,  with  no  one  before  the  matting- 
throne  but  his  prime  ministers  or  the  empress  and  his 
concubines.  For  centuries,  it  was  supposed  that  the 
Mikado  did  not  touch  the  ground  with  his  feet.  He 
went  abroad  in  a  curtained  car ;  and  he  was  not  only 
as  mysterious  and  invisible  to  the  public  eye  as  a 
dragon,  but  he  was  called  such.  The  attributes  of  that 
monster  with  many  powers  and  functions,  were  applied 
to  him,  with  an  amazing  wealth  of  rhetoric  and  vocab- 
ulary. As  well  might  the  common  folks  to-day  pre- 
sume to  pray  unto  one  of  the  transcendent  Buddhas, 
between  whom  and  the  needy  suppliant  there  may  be 
hosts  upon  hosts  of  interlopers  or  mediators,  as  for  an 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    115 

ordinary  subject  to  petition  the  emperor  or  even  to 
gaze  upon  his  dragon  countenance.  The  change  in  the 
constitutional  Japan  of  our  day  is  seen  in  the  fact  that 
the  term  " Mikado"  is  now  obsolete.  This  description 
of  the  relation  of  sovereign  and  minister  (inaccurately 
characterized  by  some  writers  on  Confucianism  as  that 
of  "King  and  subject,"  a  phrase  which  might  almost 
fit  the  constitutional  monarchy  of  to-day)  shows  the 
relation,  as  it  did  exist  for  nearly  a  thousand  years  of 
Japanese  history.  We  find  the  same  imitation  of  pro- 
cedure, even  when  imperialism  became  only  a  shadow 
in  the  government  and  the  great  Shogun  who  called 
himself  "  Tycoon,"  the  ruler  in  Yedo,  aping  the  majesty 
of  Kioto,  became  so  powerful  as  to  be  also  a  dragon. 
Between  the  Yedo  Shogun  and  the  people  rose  a  great 
staircase  of  numberless  subordinates,  and  should  a  sub- 
ject attempt  to  offer  a  petition  in  person  he  must  pay 
for  it  by  crucifixion.12 

As,  under  the  emperor  there  were  court  ministers, 
heads  of  departments,  governors  and  functionaries  of 
all  kinds  before  the  people  were  reached,  so,  under  the 
Shogun  in  the  feudal  days,  there  were  the  Daimios  or 
great  lords  and  the  Shomios  or  small  lords  with  their 
retainers  in  graduated  subordination,  and  below  these 
were  the  servants  and  general  humanity.  Even  after 
the  status  of  man  was  reached,  there  were  gradations 
and  degradations  through  fractions  down  to  ciphers 
and  indeed  to  minus  quantities,  for  there  existed  in  the 
Country  of  Brave  Warriors  some  tens  of  thousands  of 
human  beings  bearing  the  names  of  eta  (pariah)  and 
hi-nin  (non-human),  who  were  far  below  the  pale  of 
humanity. 


116  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


The  Paramount  Idea  of  Loyalty. 

The  one  idea  which  dominated  all  of  these  classes,13 
— in  Old  Japan  there  were  no  masses  but  only  many 
classes — was  that  of   loyalty.     As   the  Japanese  lan- 
guage shows,  every  faculty  of  man  was  subordinated 
to  this  idea.     Confucianism  even  conditioned  the  de- 
velopment of  Japanese  grammar,  as  it  also  did  that  of 
the   Koreans,  by   multiplying   honorary   prefixes  and 
suffixes  and  building  up  all  sociable  and  polite  speech 
on  perpendicular  lines.     Personality  was  next  to  noth- 
ing and  individuality  was  in  a  certain  sense  unknown. 
In  European  languages,  the  pronoun  shows  how  clearly 
the  ideas  of  personality  and  of  individuality  have  been 
developed ;  but  in  the  Japanese  language  there  really 
are  no  pronouns,  in  the  sense  of  the  word  as  used  by 
the   Germanic  nations,    at   least,  although   there   are 
hundreds  of  impersonal  and  topographical  substitutes 
for  them.14     The  mirror,  of  the  language  itself,  reflects 
more  truth  upon  this  point  of  inquiry  than  do  patri- 
otic assertions,  or  the  protests  of  those  who  in  the  days 
of  this  Meiji  era  so  handsomely  employ  the  Japanese 
language  as  the  medium  of  thought.    Strictly  speaking, 
the  ego  disappears  in  ordinary  conversation  and  ac- 
tion, and  instead,  it  is  the  servant  speaking  reverently 
to  his  master;    or  it  is  the  master  condescending  to 
the  object   which  is  "  before  his  hand "   or  "  to  the 
side  "  or  "  below  "  where  his  inferior  kneels ;  or  it  is 
the  "  honorable  right  "  addressing  the  "  esteemed  left." 
All  the  terms  which  a  foreigner  might  use  in  speak- 
ing of  the  duties  of  sovereign  and  minister,   of  lord 
and  retainer  and  of  master  and  servant,  are  compre- 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN   117 

liended  in  the  Japanese  word,  Kun-shin,  in  which  is 
crystallized  but  one  thought,  though  it  may  relate  to 
three  grades  of  society.  The  testimony  of  history  and 
of  the  language  shows,  that  the  feelings  which  we  call 
loyalty  and  reverence  are  always  directed  upward, 
while  those  which  we  term  benevolence  and  love  in- 
variably look  downward. 

Note  herein  the  difference  between  the  teachings  of 
Christ  and  those  of  the  Chinese  sage.  According  to 
the  latter,  if  there  be  love  in  the  relation  of  the  master 
and  servant,  it  is  the  master  who  loves,  and  not  the 
servant  who  may  only  reverence.  It  would  be  in- 
harmonious for  the  Japanese  servant  to  love  his  mas- 
ter; he  never  even  talks  of  it.  And  in  family  life, 
while  the  parent  may  love  the  child,  the  child  is  not 
expected  to  love  the  parent  but  rather  to  reverence 
him.  So  also  the  Japanese  wife,  as  in  our  old  script- 
ural versions,  is  to  "  see  that  she  reverence  her  hus- 
band." Love  (not  agape,  but  eros)  is  indeed  a  theme 
of  the  poets  and  of  that  part  of  life  and  of  literature 
which  is,  strictly  speaking,  outside  of  the  marriage 
relation,  but  the  thought  that  dominates  in  marital 
life,  is  reverence  from  the  wife  and  benevolence  from 
the  husband.  The  Christian  conception,  which  re- 
quires that  a  woman  should  love  her  husband,  does 
not  strictly  accord  with  the  Confucian  idea. 

Christianity  has  taught  us  that  when  a  man  loves  a 
woman  purely  and  makes  her  his  wife,  he  should  also 
have  reverence  for  her,  and  that  this  element  should  be 
an  integral  part  of  his  love.  Christianity  also  teaches 
a  reverence  for  children;  and  Wordsworth  has  but 
followed  the  spirit  of  his  great  master,  Christ,  when 
expressing  this  beautiful  sentiment  in  his  melodious 


118  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

numbers.  Such  ideas  as  these,  however,  are  discords 
in  Japanese  social  life  of  the  old  order.  So  also  the 
Christian  preaching  of  love  to  God,  sounds  outlandish 
to  the  men  of  Chinese  mind  in  the  middle  or  the 
pupil  kingdom,  who  seem  to  think  that  it  can  only 
come  from  the  lips  of  those  who  have  not  been  prop- 
erly trained.  To  "  love  God "  appears  to  them  as 
being  an  unwarrantable  patronage  of,  and  familiarity 
with  "  Heaven,"  or  the  King  of  Kings.  The  same  dif- 
ficulty, which  to-day  troubles  Christian  preachers  and 
translators,  existed  among  the  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries three  centuries  ago.15  The  moulds  of  thought 
were  not  then,  nor  are  they  even  now,  entirely  ready 
for  the  full  truth  of  Christian  revelation. 

Suicide  Made  Honorable. 

In  the  long  story  of  the  Honorable  Country,  there 
are  to  be  found  many  shining  examples  of  loyalty, 
which  is  the  one  theme  oftenest  illustrated  in  popular 
fiction  and  romance.  Its  well-attested  instances  on  the 
crimson  thread  of  Japanese  history  are  more  numerous 
than  the  beads  on  many  rosaries.  The  most  famous 
of  all,  perhaps,  is  the  episode  of  the  Forty-Seven  Ro- 
nins,  which  is  a  constant  favorite  in  the  theatres,  and 
has  been  so  graphically  narrated  or  pictured  by  scores 
of  native  poets,  authors,  artists,  sculptors  and  drama- 
tists, and  told  in  English  by  Mitford,  Dickens  and 
Greey.16 

These  forty-seven  men  hated  wife,  child,  society, 
name,  fame,  food  and  comfort  for  the  sake  of  avenging 
the  death  of  their  master.  In  a  certain  sense,  they 
ceased  to  be  persons  in  order  to  become  the  imper- 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    119 

sonal  instruments  of  Heaven's  retribution.  They  gave 
up  everything — houses,  lands,  kinsmen  —  that  they 
might  have  in  this  life  the  hundred-fold  reward  of 
vengeance,  and  in  the  world-life  of  humanity  through- 
out the  centuries,  fame  and  honor.  Feeding  the  hun- 
ger of  their  hearts  upon  the  hope  of  glutting  that 
hunger  with  the  life-blood  of  their  victim,  they  waited 
long  years.  When  once  their  swords  had  drunk  the 
consecrated  blood,  they  laid  the  severed  head  upon 
their  master's  tomb  and  then  gladly,  even  rapturously, 
delivered  themselves  up,  and  ripping  open  their  bowels 
they  died  by  that  judicially  ordered  seppuku  which 
cleansed  their  memory  from  every  stain,  and  gave 
to  them  the  martyr's  fame  and  crown  forever.  The 
tombs  of  these  men,  on  the  hillside  overlooking  the 
Bay  of  Yedo,  are  to  this  day  ever  fragrant  with  fresh 
flowers,  and  to  the  cemetery  where  their  ashes  lie  and 
their  memorials  stand,  thousands  of  pilgrims  annually 
wend  their  way.  No  dramas  are  more  permanently 
popular  on  the  stage  than  those  which  display  the  vir- 
tues of  these  heroes,  who  are  commonly  spoken  of  as 
"  The  righteous  Samurai."  Their  tombs  have  stood 
for  two  centuries,  as  mighty  magnets  drawing  others  to 
self-impalement  on  the  sword — as  multipliers  of  sui- 
cides. 

Yet  this  alphabetic  number,  this  i-ro-ha  of  self- 
murder,  is  but  one  of  a  thousand  instances  in  the 
Land  of  Noble  Suicides.  From  the  pre-historic  days 
when  the  custom  of  Jun-shi,  or  dying  with  the  master, 
required  the  interment  of  the  living  retainers  with 
the  dead  lord,  down  through  all  the  ages  to  the  Rev- 
olution of  1868,  when  at  Sendai  and  Aidzu  scores  of 
men  and  boys  opened  their  bowels,  and  mothers  slew 


120  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

their  infant  sons  and  cut  their  own  throats,  there  has 
been  flowing  through  Japanese  history  a  river  of  sui- 
cides' blood 17  having  its  springs  in  the  devotion  of  re- 
tainers to  masters,  and  of  soldiers  to  a  lost  cause  as 
represented  by  the  feudal  superior.  Shigemori,  the 
son  of  the  prime  minister  Kiyomori,  who  protected  the 
emperor  even  against  his  own  father,  is  a  model  of 
that  Japanese  kun-shin  which  placed  fidelity  to  the 
sovereign  above  filial  obedience ;  though  even  yet 
Shigemori's  name  is  the  synonym  of  both  virtues. 
Kusunoki  Masashige,18  the  white  flower  of  Japanese 
chivalry,  is  but  one,  typical  not  only  of  a  thousand  but 
of  thousands  of  thousands  of  soldiers,  who  hated  par- 
ents, wife,  child,  friend  in  order  to  be  disciple  to  the 
supreme  loyalty.  He  sealed  his  creed  by  emptying 
his  own  veins.  Kiyomori,19  like  King  David  of  Israel, 
on  his  dying  bed  ordered  the  assassination  of  his  per- 
sonal enemy. 

The  common  Japanese  novels  read  like  records  of 
slaughter-houses.  No  Moloch  or  Shiva  has  won  more 
victims  to  his  shrine  than  has  this  idea  of  Japan- 
ese loyalty  which  is  so  beautiful  in  theory  and  so 
hideous  in  practice.  Despite  the  military  clamps  and 
frightful  despotism  of  Yedo,  which  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  gave  to  the  world  a  delusive  idea  of  pro- 
found quiet  in  the  Country  of  Peaceful  Shores,  there 
was  in  fact  a  chronic  unrest  which  amounted  at  many 
times  and  in  many  places  to  anarchy.  The  calm  of 
despotism  was,  indeed,  rudely  broken  by  the  aliens  in 
the  "  black  ships  "  with  the  "  flowery  flag  "  ;  but,  with- 
out regarding  influences  from  the  West,  the  indications 
of  history  as  now  read,  pointed  in  1850  toward  the 
bloodiest  of  Japan's  many  civil  wars.  Could  the  sta- 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN   121 

tistics  of  the  suicides  during  this  long  period  be  col- 
lected, their  publication  would  excite  in  Christendom 
the  utmost  incredulity. 

Nevertheless,  this  qualifying  statement  should  be 
made.  A  study  of  the  origin  and  development  of  the 
national  method  of  self-destruction  shows  that  suicide 
by  seppuku,  or  opening  of  the  abdomen,  was  first  a 
custom,  and  then  a  privilege.  It  took,  among  men  of 
honor,  the  place  of  the  public  executions,  the  massacres 
in  battle  and  siege,  decimation  of  rebels  and  similar 
means  of  killing  at  the  hands  of  others,  which  so  often 
mar  the  historical  records  of  western  nations.  Un- 
doubtedly, therefore,  in  the  minds  of  most  Japanese, 
there  are  many  instances  of  hara-kiri  which  should 
not  be  classed  as  suicide,  but  technically  as  execution 
of  judicial  sentence.  And  yet  no  sentence  or  process 
of  death  known  in  western  lands  had  such  influence  in 
glorifying  the  victim,  as  had  seppuku  in  Japan. 

The  Family  Idea. 

The  Second  Kelation  is  that  of  father  and  son,  thus 
preceding  what  we  should  suppose  to  be  the  first  of 
human  relations — husband  and  wife — but  the  arrange- 
ment entirely  accords  with  the  Oriental  conception  that 
the  family,  the  house,  is  more  important  than  the  in- 
dividual. In  Old  Japan  the  paramount  idea  in  mar- 
riage, was  not  that  of  love  or  companionship,  or  of  mu- 
tual assistance  with  children,  but  was  almost  wholly 
that  of  offspring,  and  of  maintaining  the  family  line.20 
The  individual  might  perish  but  the  house  must  live 
on. 

Very  different  from  the  family  of  Christendom,  is  the 


122  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

family  in  Old  Japan,  in  which  we  find  elements  that 
would  not  be  recognized  where  monogamy  prevails 
and  children  are  born  in  the  home  and  not  in  the  herd. 
Instead  of  father,  mother  and  children,  there  are  father, 
wife,  concubines,  and  various  sorts  of  children  who 
are  born  of  the  wife  or  of  the  concubine,  or  have  been 
adopted  into  the  family.  With  us,  adoption  is  the  ex- 
ception, but  in  Japan  it  is  the  invariable  rule  whenever 
either  convenience  or  necessity  requires  it  of  the 
house.  Indeed  it  is  rare  to  find  a  set  of  brothers  bear- 
ing the  same  family  name.  Adoption  and  concubinage 
keep  the  house  unbroken.21  It  is  the  house,  the  name, 
which  must  continue,  although  not  necessarily  by  a 
blood  line.  The  name,  a  social  trade-mark,  lives  on 
for  ages.  The  line  of  Japanese  emperors,  which,  in  the 
Constitution  of  1889,  by  adding  mythology  to  history 
is  said  to  rule  "  unbroken  from  ages  eternal,"  is  not 
one  of  fathers  and  sons,  but  has  been  made  continuous 
by  concubinage  and  adoption.  In  this  view,  it  is  pos- 
sibly as  old  as  the  line  of  the  popes. 

It  is  very  evident  that  our  terms  and  usages  do  not 
have  in  such  a  home  the  place  or  meaning  which  one 
not  familiar  with  the  real  life  of  Old  Japan  would  sup- 
pose. The  father  is  an  absolute  ruler.  There  is  in  Old 
Japan  hardly  any  such  thing  as  "  parents,"  for  practi- 
cally there  is  only  one  parent,  as  the  woman  counts  for 
little.  The  wife  is  honored  if  she  becomes  a  mother, 
but  if  childless  she  is  very  probably  neglected.  Our 
idea  of  fatherhood  implies  that  the  child  has  rights 
and  that  he  should  love  as  well  as  be  loved.  Our  cus- 
toms excite  not  only  the  merriment  but  even  the  con- 
tempt of  the  old-school  Japanese.  The  kiss  and  the 
embrace,  the  linking  of  the  child's  arm  around  its 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    123 

father's  neck,  the  address  on  letters  "  My  dear  Wife  " 
or  "  My  beloved  Mother "  seem  to  them  like  carica- 
tures of  propriety.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  undoubt- 
edly true  that  in  reverence  toward  parents — or  at  least 
toward  one  of  the  parents — a  Japanese  child  is  apt  to 
excel  the  one  born  even  in  a  Christian  home. 

This  so-called  filial  "  piety  "  becomes  in  practice,  how- 
ever, a  horrible  outrage  upon  humanity  and  especially 
upon  womanhood.  During  centuries  the  despotic 
power  of  the  father  enabled  him  to  put  an  end  to  the 
life  of  his  child,  whether  boy  or  girl. 

Under  this  abominable  despotism  there  is  no  protec- 
tion for  the  daughter,  who  is  bound  to  sell  her  body, 
while  youth  or  beauty  last  or  perhaps  for  life,  to  help 
pay  her  father's  debts,  to  support  an  aged  parent  or 
even  to  gratify  his  mere  caprice.  In  hundreds  of  Jap- 
anese romances  the  daughter,  who  for  the  sake  of  her 
parents  has  sold  herself  to  shame,  is  made  the  theme 
of  the  story  and  an  object  of  praise.  In  the  minds  of 
the  people  there  may  be  indeed  a  feeling  of  pity  that 
the  girl  has  been  obliged  to  give  up  her  home  life  for 
the  brothel,  but  no  one  ever  thinks  of  questioning  the 
right  of  the  parent  to  make  the  sale  of  the  girl's  body, 
any  more  than  he  would  allow  the  daughter  to  rebel 
against  it.  This  idea  still  lingers  and  the  institution 
remains,22  although  the  system  has  received  stunning- 
blows  from  the  teaching  of  Christian  ethics,  the  preach- 
ing of  a  better  gospel  and  the  improvements  in  the  law 
of  the  land. 

The  Marital  Relation. 

The  Third  Relation  is  that  of  husband  and  wife. 
The  meaning  of  these  words,  however,  is  not  the  same 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAtf 

with  the  Japanese  as  with  us*  In  Confucius  there  is 
not  only  male  and  female,  but  also  superior  and  in- 
ferior, master  and  servant.23  Without  any  love-making 
or  courtship  by  those  most  interested,  a  marriage  be- 
tween two  young  people  is  arranged  by  their  parents 
through  the  medium  of  what  is  called  a  "  go-between." 
The  bride  leaves  her  father's  house  forever — that  is, 
when  she  is  not  to  be  subsequently  divorced — and  en- 
tering into  that  of  her  husband  must  be  subordinate 
not  only  to  him  but  also  to  his  parents,  and  must  obey 
them  as  her  own  father  and  mother.  Having  all  her 
life  under  her  father's  roof  reverenced  her  superiors, 
she  is  expected  to  bring  reverence  to  her  new  domicile, 
but  not  love.  She  must  always  obey  but  never  be  jeal- 
ous. She  must  not  be  angry,  no  matter  whom  her  hus- 
band may  introduce  into  his  household.  She  must 
wait  upon  him  at  his  meals  and  must  walk  behind  him, 
but  not  with  him.  When  she  dies  her  children  go  to 
her  funeral,  but  not  her  husband. 

A  foreigner,  hearing  the  Japanese  translate  our  word 
chastity  by  the  term  teiso  or  misao,  may  imagine  that 
the  latter  represents  mutual  obligation  and  personal 
purity  for  man  and  wife  alike,  but  on  looking  into  the 
dictionary  he  will  find  that  teiso  means  "Womanly 
duties."  A  circumlocution  is  needed  to  express  the 
idea  of  a  chaste  man. 

Jealousy  is  a  horrible  sin,  but  is  always  supposed  to 
be  a  womanish  fault,  and  so  an  exhibition  of  folly  and 
weakness.  Therefore,  to  apply  such  a  term  to  God— 
— to  say  "a  jealous  God" — outrages  the  good  sense  of 
a  Confucianist,24  almost  as  much  as  the  statement  that 
Ood  "  cannot  lie  "  did  that  of  the  Pundit,  who  wondered 
Jiow  God  could  be  Omnipotent  if  He  could  not  lie, 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    125 

How  great  the  need  in  Japanese  social  life  of  some 
purifying  principle  higher  than  Confucianism  can  af- 
ford, is  shown  in  the  little  book  entitled  "  The  Japanese 
Bride,"25  written  by  a  native,  and  scarcely  less  in  the 
storm  of  native  criticism  it  called  forth.  Under  the 
system  which  has  ruled  Japan  for  a  millennium  and  a 
half,  divorce  has  been  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
the  husband,  and  the  document  of  separation,  entitled 
in  common  parlance  the  "three  lines  and  a  half,"  was 
invariably  written  by  the  man.  A  woman  might  in- 
deed nominally  obtain  a  divorce  from  her  husband, 
but  not  actually;  for  the  severance  of  the  marital  tie 
would  be  the  work  of  the  house  or  relatives,  rather 
than  the  act  of  the  wife,  who  was  not  "  a  person  "  in  the 
case.  Indeed,  in  the  olden  time  a  woman  was  not  a 
person  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  but  rather  a  chattel.  The 
case  is  somewhat  different  under  the  new  codes,26  but 
the  looseness  of  the  marriage  tie  is  still  a  scandal  to 
thinking  Japanese.  Since  the  breaking  up  of  the 
feudal  system  and  the  disarrangement  of  the  old  social 
and  moral  standards,  the  statistics  made  annually  from 
the  official  census  show  that  the  ratio  "of  divorce  to 
marriage  is  very  nearly  as  one  to  three.27 

The  Elder  and  the  Younger  Brother. 

The  Fourth  Kelation  is  that  of  Elder  Brother  and 
Younger  Brother.  As  we  have  said,  foreigners  in 
translating  some  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  terms 
used  in  the  system  of  Confucius  are  often  led  into  er- 
rors by  supposing  that  the  Christian  conception  of 
family  life  prevails  also  in  Chinese  Asia.  By  many 
writers  this  relation  is  translated  "  brother  to  brother ; " 


126  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

but  really  in  the  Japanese  language  there  is  no  term 
meaning  simply  "  brother  "  or  "  sister,"  K  and  a  circumlo- 
cution is  necessary  to  express  the  ideas  which  we  con- 
vey by  these  words.  It  is  always  "older  brother"  or 
"younger  brother,"  and  "older  sister"  or  "younger 
sister" — the  male  or  female  "kiyodai"  as  the  case  may 
be.  With  us— excepting  in  lands  where  the  law  of 
primogeniture  still  prevails — all  the  brothers  are  prac- 
tically equal,  and  it  would  be  considered  a  violation  of 
Christian  righteousness  for  a  parent  to  show  more 
favor  to  one  child  than  to  another.  In  this  respect 
the  "wisdom  that  cometh  from  above"  is  "without 
partiality."  The  Chinese  ethical  system,  however,  dis- 
regards the  principle  of  mutual  rights  and  duties,  and 
builds  up  the  family  on  the  theory  of  the  subordina- 
tion of  the  younger  brother  to  the  elder  brother,  the 
predominant  idea  being  not  mutual  love,  but,  far  more 
than  in  the  Christian  household,  that  of  rank  and  order. 
The  attitude  of  the  heir  of  the  family  toward  the  other 
children  is  one  of  condescension,  and  they,  as  well  as 
the  widowed  mother,  regard  the  oldest  son  with  rever- 
ence. It  is  as  though  the  commandment  given  on 
Sinai  should  read,  "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  elder 
brother." 

The  mother  is  an  instrument  rather  than  a  person  in 
the  life  of  the  house,  and  the  older  brother  is  the 
one  on  whom  rests  the  responsibility  of  continuing 
the  family  line.  The  younger  brothers  serve  as  sub- 
jects for  adoption  into  other  families,  especially  those 
where  there  are  daughters  to  be  married  and  family 
names  to  be  continued.  In  a  word,  the  name  belongs 
to  the  house  and  not  to  the  individual.  The  habit  of 
naming  children  after  relatives  or  friends  of  the  parents, 


THE  CHINESE  ETHTGAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    127 

or  illustrious  men  and  women,  is  unknown  in  Old 
Japan,  though  an  approach  to  this  common  custom 
among  us  is  made  by  conferring  or  making  use  of  part 
of  a  name,  usually  by  the  transf  errence  of  one  ideograph 
forming  the  name-word.  Such  a  practice  lays  stress 
upon  personality,  and  so  has  no  place  in  the  country 
without  pronouns,  where  the  idea  of  continuing  the 
personal  house  or  semi-personal  family,  is  predomi- 
nant. The  customs  prevalent  in  life  are  strong  even  in 
death,  and  the  elder  brother  or  sister,  in  some  provinces, 
did  not  go  to  the  funeral  of  the  younger.  This  state 
of  affairs  is  reflected  in  Japanese  literature,  and  pro- 
duces in  romance  as  well  as  in  history  many  situations 
and  episodes  which  seem  almost  incredible  to  the 
Western  mind. 

In  the  lands  ruled  by  Confucius  the  grown-up  chil- 
dren usually  live  under  the  parental  roof,  and  there 
are  few  independent  homes  as  we  understand  them. 
The  so-called  family  is  composed  both  of  the  living 
and  of  the  dead,  and  constitutes  the  unit  of  society. 

Friendship  and  Humanity. 

The  Fifth  Relation — Friends.  Here,  again,  a  mis- 
take is  often  made  by  those  who  import  ideas  of 
Christendom  into  the  terms  used  in  Chinese  Asia,  and 
who  strive  to  make  exact  equivalent  in  exchanging  the 
coins  of  speech.  Occidental  writers  are  prone  to  trans- 
late the  term  for  the  fifth  relation  into  the  English 
phrase  "  man  to  man,"  which  leads  the  Western  reader 
to  suppose  that  Confucius  taught  that  universal  love 
for  man,  as  man,  which  was  instilled  and  exemplified 
by  Jesus  Christ.  In  translating  Confucius  they  often 


128  THE  RELIGIONS  OF1  JAPAN 

make  the  same  mistake  that  some  have  done  who  read 
in  Terence's  "Self-Tormentor"  the  line,  "I  am  a  man, 
and  nothing  human  is  foreign  to  me," 29  and  imagine 
that  this  is  the  sentiment  of  an  enlightened  Christian, 
although  the  context  shows  that  it  is  only  the  boast  of 
a  busybody  and  parasite.  What  Confucius  taught  un- 
der the  fifth  relation  is  not  universality,  and,  as  com- 
pared to  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  is  moonlight,  not  sun- 
light. The  doctrine  of  the  sage  is  clearly  expressed  in 
the  Analects,  and  amounts  only  to  courtesy  and  pro- 
priety. He  taught,  indeed,  that  the  stranger  is  to  be 
treated  as  a  friend  ;  and  although  in  both  Chinese  and 
Japanese  history  there  are  illustrious  proofs  that  Con- 
fucius had  interpreters  nobler  than  himself,  yet  it  is 
probable  that  the  doctrine  of  the  stranger's  receiving 
treatment  as  a  friend,  does  not  extend  to  the  foreigner. 
Confucius  framed  something  like  the  Golden  Rule — 
though  it  were  better  called  a  Silver  Eule,  or  possibly 
a  Gilded  Rule,  since  it  is  in  the  negative  instead  of 
being  definitely  placed  in  the  positive  and  indicative 
form.  One  may  search  his  writings  in  vain  for  any- 
thing approaching  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan, 
or  the  words  of  Him  who  commended  Elijah  for  re- 
plenishing the  cruse  and  barrel  of  the  widow  of  Sarep- 
ta,  and  Elisha  for  healing  Naaman  the  Syrian  leper, 
and  Jonah  for  preaching  the  good  news  of  God  to  the 
Assyrians  who  had  been  aliens  and  oppressors.  Lao 
Tsze,  however,  went  so  far  as  to  teach  "return  good 
for  evil."  When  one  of  the  pupils  of  Confucius  inter- 
rogated hisJMaster  concerning  this,  the  sage  answered : 
"What  then  will  you  return  for  good?  Recompense 
injury  with  justice,  and  return  good  for  good." 

But  if  we  dp  good  only  to  those  who  do  good  to  us,, 


THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN    129 

what  thanks  have  we  ?  Do  not  the  publicans  the  same  ? 
Behold  how  the  Heavenly  Father  does  good  alike  unto 
all,  sending  rain  upon  the  just  and  unjust ! 

How  Old  Japan  treated  the  foreigner  is  seen  in  the 
repeated  repulse,  with  powder  and  ball,  of  the  relief 
ships  which,  under  the  friendly  stars  and  stripes,  at- 
tempted to  bring  back  to  her  shores  the  shipwrecked 
natives  of  Nippon.30  Granted  that  this  action  may 
have  been  purely  political  and  the  Government  alone 
responsible  for  it — just  as  our  un-Christian  anti-Chi- 
nese legislation  is  similarly  explained — yet  it  is  certain 
that  the  sentiment  of  the  only  men  in  Japan  who  made 
public  opinion, — the  Samurai  of  that  day, — was  in 
favor  of  this  method  of  meeting  the  alien. 

In  1852  the  American  expedition  was  despatched  to 
Japan  for  the  purpose  of  opening  a  lucrative  trade  and 
of  extending  American  influence  and  glory,  but  also 
unquestionably  with  the  idea  of  restoring  shipwrecked 
Japanese  as  well  as  securing  kind  treatment  for  ship- 
wrecked American  sailors,  thereby  promoting  the  cause 
of  humanity  and  international  courtesy  ;  in  short,  with 
motives  that  were  manifestly  mixed.31  In  the  treaty 
pavilion  there  ensued  an  interesting  discussion  be- 
tween Commodore  Perry  and  Professor  Hayashi  upon 
this  very  subject. 

Perry  truthfully  complained  that  the  dictates  ofj 
humanity  had  not  been  followed  by  the  Japanese, 
that  unnecessary  cruelty  had  been  used  against  ship- 
wrecked men,  and  that  Japan's  attitude  toward  her 
neighbors  and  the  whole  world  was  that  of  an  enemy 
and  not  of  a  friend. 

Hayashi,  who  was  then  probably  the  leading  Con- 
fucianist  in  Japan,  warmly  defended  his  countrymen, 
9 


130  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

and  superiors  against  the  charge  of  intentional  cruelty, 
and  denounced  the  lawless  character  of  many  of  the 
foreign  sailors.  Like  most  Japanese  of  his  school  and 
age,  he  wound  up  with  panegyrics  on  the  pre-emi- 
nence in  virtue  and  humanity,  above  all  nations,  of  the 
Country  Euled  by  a  Theocratic  Dynasty,  and  on  the 
glory  and  goodness  of  the  great  Tokugawa  family, 
which  had  given  peace  to  the  land  during  two  centu- 
ries or  more.32 

It  is  manifest,  however,  that  so  far  as  this  hostility 
to  foreigners,  and  this  blind  bigotry  of  "  patriotism  " 
were  based  on  Chinese  codes  of  morals,  as  officially 
taught  in  Yedo,  they  belonged  as  much  to  the  old 
Confucianism  as  to  the  new.  Wherever  the  narrow 
philosophy  of  the  sage  has  dominated,  it  has  made 
Asia  Chinese  and  nations  hermits.  As  a  rule,  the 
only  way  in  which  foreigners  could  come  peacefully 
into  China  or  the  countries  which  she  intellectually 
dominated  was  as  vassals,  tribute-bearers,  or  "  barba- 
rians." The  mental  attitude  of  China,  Korea,  Annam 
and  Japan  has  for  ages  been  that  of  the  Jews  in  Hero- 
dian  times,  who  set  up,  between  the  Court  of  Israel 
and  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  their  graven  stones  of 
warning  which  read  : ffl 

"No  foreigner  to  proceed 
within  the  partition  wall 
and  enclosure  around  the 
sanctuary ;  whoever  is 
caught  in  the  same 
will  on  that  account  be  liable 
to  incur  death." 


CONFUCIANISM     IN     ITS     PHILOSOPHICAL 
FORM 


"  After  a  thousand  years  the  pine  decays ;  the  flower  has  its  glory  in 
blooming  for  a  day." — Hakkyoi,  Chinese  Poet  of  the  Tang  Dynasty. 

"  The  morning-glory  of  an  hour  differs  not  in  heart  from  the  pine-tree  of 
a  thousand  years." — Matsunaga  of  Japan. 

"  The  pine's  heart  is  not  of  a  thousand  years,  nor  the  morning-glory's  of 
an  hour,  but  only  that  they  may  fulfil  their  destiny." 

"Since  lyeyasu,  his  hair  brushed  by  the  wind,  his  body  anointed  with 
rain,  with  lifelong  labor  caused  confusion  to  cease  and  order  to  prevail, 
for  more  than  a  hundred  years  there  has  been  no  war.  The  waves  of  the 
four  seas  have  been  unruffled  and  no  one  has  failed  of  the  blessing  of  peace. 
The  common  folk  must  speak  with  reverence,  yet  it  is  the  duty  of  scholars 
to  celebrate  the  virtue  of  the  Government." — Kyuso,  of  Yedo. 

"A  ruler  must  have  faithful  ministers.  He  who  sees  the  error  of  his 
lord  and  remonstrates,  not  fearing  his  wrath,  is  braver  than  he  who  bears 
the  foremost  spear  in  battle." — lyeyasu. 

44  The  choice  of  the  Chinese  philosophy  and  the  rejection  of  Buddhism 
was  not  because  of  any  inherent  quality  in  the  Japanese  mind.  It  was 
not  the  rejection  of  supernaturalism  or  the  miraculous.  The  Chinese  phil- 
osophy is  as  supernaturalistic  as  some  forms  of  Buddhism.  The  distinc- 
tion is  not  between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  in  either  system,  but 
between  the  seen  and  the  unseen." 

"The  Chinese  philosophy  is  as  religious  as  the  original  teaching  of 
Gautama.  Neither  Shushi  nor  Gautama  believed  in  a  Creator,  but  both 
believed  in  gods  and  demons.  ...  It  has  little  place  for  prayer, 
but  has  a  vivid  sense  of  the  Infinite  and  the  Unseen,  and  fervently  believes 
that  right  conduct  is  in  accord  with  the  '  eternal  verities.'  " — George  Will- 
iam Knox. 

44  In  him  is  the  yea.  "—Paul 


CHAPTEK  V 

CONFUCIANISM  IN  ITS  PHILOSOPHICAL   FORM 
Japan: 's  Millennium  of  Simple  Confucianism 

HAVING  seen  the  practical  working  of  the  ethics  of 
Confucianism,  especially  in  the  old  and  simple  system, 
let  us  now  glance  at  the  developed  and  philosophical 
forms,  which,  by  giving  the  educated  man  of  Japan  a 
creed,  made  him  break  away  from  Buddhism  and  de- 
spise it,  while  becoming  often  fanatically  Confucian. 

For  a  thousand  years  (from  600  to  1600  A.D.)  the 
Buddhist  religious  teachers  assisted  in  promulgating 
the  ethics  of  Confucius ;  for  during  all  this  time  there 
was  harmony  between  the  various  Buddhisms  imported 
from  India,  Tibet,  China  and  Korea,  and  the  simple 
undeveloped  system  of  Chinese  Confucianism.  Slight 
modifications  were  made  by  individual  teachers,  and 
emphasis  was  laid  upon  this  or  that  feature,  while  out 
of  the  soil  of  Japanese  feudalism  were  growths  of  cer- 
tain virtues  as  phases  of  loyalty,  phenomenal  beyond 
those  in  China.  Nevertheless,  during  all  this  time,  the 
Japanese  teachers  of  the  Chinese  ethic  were  as  stu- 
dents who  did  but  recite  what  they  learned.  They 
simply  transmitted,  without  attempting  to  expand  or 
improve. 

Though  the  apparatus  of  distribution  was  early 
known,  block  printing  having  been  borrowed  from  the 


134  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Chinese  after  the  ninth  century,  and  movable  types 
learned  from  the  Koreans  and  made  use  of  in  the  six- 
teenth century,1  the  Chinese  classics  were  not  printed 
as  a  body  until  after  the  great  peace  of  Genna  (1615). 
Nor  during  this  period  were  translations  made  of  the 
classics  or  commentaries,  into  the  Japanese  vernacu- 
lar. Indeed,  between  the  tenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies there  was  little  direct  intercourse,  commercial, 
diplomatic  or  intellectual,  between  Japan  and  China, 
as  compared  with  the  previous  eras,  or  the  decades 
since  1870. 

Suddenly  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  intellect 
of  Japan,  all  ready  for  new  surprises  in  the  profound 
peace  inaugurated  by  lyeyasu,  received,  as  it  were, 
an  electric  thrill.  The  great  warrior,  becoming  first 
a  unifier  by  arms  and  statecraft,  determined  also  to 
become  the  architect  of  the  national  culture.  Gather- 
ing up,  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  books,  manu- 
scripts, and  the  appliances  of  intellectual  discipline, 
he  encouraged  scholars  and  stimulated  education. 
Under  his  supervision  the  Chinese  classics  were 
printed,  and  were  soon  widely  circulated.  A  college 
was  established  in  Yedo,  and  immediately  there  began 
a  critical  study  of  the  texts  and  principal  commenta- 
ries. The  fall  of  the  Ming  dynasty  in  China,  and  the 
accession  of  the  Manchiu  Tartars,  became  the  signal 
for  a  great  exodus  of  learned  Chinese,  who  fled  to 
Japan.  These  received  a  warm  welcome,  both  at  the 
capital  and  in  Yedo,  as  well  as  in  some  of  the  castle 
towns  of  the  Daimios,  among  whom  stand  illustrious 
those  of  the  province  of  Mito.2 

These  men  from  the  west  brought  not  only  ethics 
but  philosophy ;  and  the  fertilizing  influences  of  these 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     135 

scholars  of  the  Dispersion,  may  be  likened  to  those  of 
the  exodus  of  the  Greek  learned  men  after  the  capture 
of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks.  Confucian  schools 
were  established  in  most  of  the  chief  provincial  cities. 
For  over  two  hundred  years  this  discipline  in  the  Chi- 
nese ethics,  literature  and  history  constituted  the  edu- 
cation of  the  boys  and  men  of  Japan.  Almost  every 
member  of  the  Samurai  classes  was  thoroughly  drilled 
in  this  curriculum.  All  Japanese  social,  official,  intel- 
lectual and  literary  life  was  permeated  with  the  new 
spirit.  Their  "world"  was  that  of  the  Chinese,  and  all 
outside  of  it  belonged  to  "  barbarians."  The  matrices 
of  thought  became  so  fixed  and  the  Japanese  language 
has  been  so  moulded,  that  even  now,  despite  the  in- 
tense and  prolonged  efforts  of  thirty  years  of  acute  and 
laborious  scholarship,  it  is  impossible,  as  we  have  said, 
to  find  English  equivalents  for  terms  which  were  used 
for  a  century  or  two  past  in  every  -  day  Japanese 
speech.  Those  who  know  most  about  these  facts,  are 
most  modest  in  attempting  with  English  words  to  do 
justice  to  Japanese  thought ;  while  those  who  know 
the  least  seem  to  be  most  glib,  fluent  and  voluminous 
in  showing  to  their  own  satisfaction,  that  there  is  lit- 
tle difference  between  the  ethics  of  Chinese  Asia  and 
those  of  Christendom. 

Survey  of  the  Intellectual  History  of  China. 

The  Confucianism  of  the  last  quarter-millennium  in 
Japan  is  not  that  of  her  early  centuries.  While  the 
Japanese  for  a  thousand  years  only  repeated  and  re- 
cited— merely  talking  aloud  in  their  intellectual  sleep 
but  not  reflecting — China  was  awake  and  thinking  hard. 


136  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Japan's  continued  civil  wars,  which  caused  the  almost 
total  destruction  of  books  and  manuscripts,  secured  also 
the  triumph  of  Buddhism  which  meant  the  atrophy  of 
the  national  intellect.  When,  after  the  long  feuds  and 
battles  of  the  middle  ages,  Confucianism  stepped  the 
second  time  into  the  Land  of  Brave  Scholars,  it  was 
no  longer  with  the  simple  rules  of  conduct  and  cere- 
monial of  the  ancient  days,  nor  was  it  as  the  ally  of 
Buddhism.  It  came  like  an  armed  man  in  full  panoply 
of  harness  and  weapons.  It  entered  to  drive  Buddhism 
out,  and  to  defend  the  intellect  of  the  educated  against 
the  wiles  of  priestcraft.  It  was  a  full-blown  system  of 
pantheistic  rationalism,  with  a  scheme  of  philosophy 
that  to  the  far-Oriental  mind  seemed  perfect  as  a  rule 
both  of  faith  and  practice.  It  came  in  a  form  that 
was  received  as  religion,  for  it  was  not  only  morality 
"  touched  "  but  infused  with  emotion.  Nor  were  the 
emotions  kindled,  those  of  the  partisan  only,  but 
rather  also  those  of  the  devotee  and  the  martyr. 
Henceforth  Buddhism,  with  its  inventions,  its  fables, 
and  its  endless  dogmatism,  was  for  the  common  peo- 
ple, for  women  and  children,  but  not  for  the  Samurai. 
The  new  Confucianism  came  to  Japan  as  the  system 
of  Chu  Hi.  For  three  centuries  this  system  had  al- 
ready held  sway  over  the  intellect  of  China.  For  two 
centuries  and  a  half  it  has  dominated  the  minds  of  the 
Samurai  so  that  the  majority  of  them  to-day,  even 
with  the  new  name  Shizoku,  are  Confucianists  so  far 
as  they  are  anything. 

To  understand  the  origin  of  Buddhism  we  must 
know  something  of  the  history  and  the  previous  relig- 
ious and  philosophical  systems  of  India,  and  so,  if  we 
are  to  appreciate  modern  "  orthodox "  Confucianism, 


CONFUCIANIMf  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     137 

we  must  review  the  history  of  China,  and  see,  in  out- 
line, at  least,  its  literature,  politics  and  philosophy 
during  the  middle  ages. 

"  Four  great  stages  of  literary  and  national  develop- 
ment may  be  pointed  to  as  intervening  (in  the  fifteen 
hundred  years)  between  the  great  sage  and  the  age 
called  that  of  the  Sung-Ju,"3  from  the  tenth  to  the 
fourteenth  century,  in  which  the  Confucian  system  re- 
ceived its  modern  form.  Each  of  them  embraced  the 
course  of  three  or  four  centuries. 

I.  From  the  sixth  to  the  third  century  before  Christ 
the  struggle  was  for  Confucian  and  orthodox  doctrine, 
led  by  Mencius  against  various  speculators  in  morals 
and  politics,  with  Taoist  doctrine  continually  increas- 
ing in  acceptance. 

II.  The  Han  age  (from  B.C.  206  to  A.D.  190)  was 
rich  in  critical   expositors  and  commentators  of  the 
classics,  but  "the  tone   of  speculation  was  predomi- 
nantly Taoist." 

III.  The   period  of  the  Six  Dynasties   (from  A.D. 
221  to  A.D.  618)  was  the  golden  age  of  Buddhism, 
when  the  science  and   philosophy  of  India  enriched 
the  Chinese  mind,  and  the  wealth  of  the  country  was 
lavished  on  Buddhist  temples  and  monasteries.     The 
faith  of  Shaka  became  nearly  universal  and  the  Buddh- 
ists led  in  philosophy  and  literature,  founding  a  na- 
tive school  of  Indian  philosophy. 

IY.  The  Tang  period  (from  A.D.  618  to  905) 
marked  by  luxury  and  poetry,  was  an  age  of  mental 
inaction  and  enervating  prosperity. 

V.  The  fifth  epoch,  beginning  with  the  Sung  Dynasty 
(from  A.D.  960  to  1333)  and  lasting  to  our  own  time, 
was  ushered  in  by  a  period  of  intense  mental  energy. 


138  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Strange  to  say  (and  most  interesting  is  the  fact  to 
Americans  of  this  generation),  the  immediate  occasion 
of  the  recension  and  expansion  of  the  old  Confucian- 
ism was  a  Populist  movement.4  During  the  Tang  era 
of  national  prosperity,  Chinese  socialists  questioned 
the  foundations  of  society  and  of  government,  and 
there  grew  up  a  new  school  of  interpreters  as  well  as  of 
politicians.  In  the  tenth  century  the  contest  between 
the  old  Confucianism  and  the  new  notions,  broke  out 
with  a  violence  that  threatened  anarchy  to  the  whole 
empire. 

One  set  of  politicians,  led  by  Wang  (1021-1086), 
urged  an  extension  of  administrative  functions,  includ- 
ing agricultural  loans,  while  the  brothers  Cheng 
(1032-1085,  1033-1107)  reaffirmed,  with  fresh  intellect- 
ual power,  the  old  orthodoxy. 

The  school  of  writers  and  party  agitators,  led  by 
Szma  Kwang  (1009-1086)5  the  historian,  contended 
that  the  ancient  principles  of  the  sages  should  be  put 
in  force.  Others,  the  Populists  of  that  age  and  land, 
demanded  the  entire  overthrow  of  existing  institu- 
tions. 

In  the  bitter  contest  which  ensued,  the  Radicals  and 
Reformers  temporarily  won  the  day  and  held  power. 
For  a  decade  the  experiment  of  innovation  was  tried. 
Men  turned  things  social  and  political  upside  down 
to  see  how  they  looked  in  that  position.  So  these 
stood  or  oscillated  for  thirteen  years,  when  the  people 
demanded  the  old  order  again.  The  Conservatives 
rose  to  power.  There  was  no  civil  war,  but  the  Radi- 
cals were  banished  beyond  the  frontier,  and  the  coun- 
try returned  to  normal  government. 

This  controversy  raised  a  landmark  in  the  intellec- 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     139 

tual  history  of  China.6  The  thoughts  of  men  were 
turned  toward  deep  and  acute  inquiry  into  the  nature 
and  use  of  things  in  general.  This  thinking  resulted 
in  a  literature  which  to-day  is  the  basis  of  the  opinions 
of  the  educated  men  in  all  Chinese  Asia.  Instead  of  a 
sapling  we  now  have  a  mighty  tree.  The  chief  of  the 
Chinese  writers,  the  Calvin  of  Asiatic  orthodoxy,  who 
may  be  said  to  have  wrought  Confucianism  into  a  de- 
veloped philosophy,  and  who  may  be  called  the  great- 
est teacher  of  the  mind,  of  modern  China,  Korea  and 
Japan,  is  Chu  Hi,  who  reverently  adopted  the  criti- 
cisms on  the  Chinese  classics  of  the  brothers  Cheng.7 
It  is  evident  that  in  Chu  Hi's  system,  we  have  a  body 
of  thought  which  may  be  called  the  result  of  Chinese 
reflection  during  a  millennium  and  a  half.  It  is  the 
ethics  of  Confucius  transfused  with  the  mystical  ele- 
ments of  Taoism  and  the  speculations  of  Buddhism. 
As  the  common  people  of  China  made  an  amalgam  of 
the  three  religions  and  consider  them  one,  so  the  phi- 
losophers have  out  of  these  three  systems  made  one, 
calling  that  one  Confucianism.  The  dominant  philoso- 
phy in  Japan  to-day  is  based  upon  the  writings  of  Chu 
Hi  (in  Japanese,  Shu  Shi)  and  called  the  system  of  Tei- 
Shu,  which  is  the  Japanese  pronunciation  of  the  names 
of  the  Cheng  brothers  and  of  Chu  (Hi).  It  is  a  medley 
which  the  ancient  sage  could  no  more  recognize  than 
would  Jesus  know  much  of  the  Christianity  that  casts 
out  devils  in  his  name. 

Contrast  between  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  Intellect. 

Here  we  must  draw  a  contrast  between  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese   intellect  to  the  credit  of  the  former ; 


140  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

China  made,  Japan  borrowed.  While  history  shows 
that  the  Chinese  mind,  once  at  least,  possessed  mental 
initiative,  and  the  power  of  thinking  out  a  system  of 
philosophy  which  to-day  satisfies  largely,  if  not  wholly, 
the  needs  of  the  educated  Chinaman,  there  has  been  in 
the  Japanese  mind,  as  shown  by  its  history,  appar- 
ently no  such  vigor  or  fruitfulness.  From  the  literary 
and  philosophical  points  of  view,  Confucianism,  as  it 
entered  Japan,  in  the  sixth  century,  remained  practi- 
cally stationary  for  a  thousand  years.  Modifications, 
indeed,  were  made  upon  the  Chinese  system,  and  these 
were  striking  and  profound,  but  they  were  less  devel- 
opments of  the  intellect  than  necessities  of  the  case. 
The  modifications  were  made,  as  molten  metal  poured 
into  a  mould  shaped  by  other  hands  than  the  artist's 
own,  rather  than  as  clay  made  plastic  under  the  hand 
of  a  designer.  Buddhism,  being  the  dominant  force  in 
the  thoughts  of  the  Japanese  for  at  least  eight  hundred 
years,  furnished  the  food  for  the  requirements  of  man 
on  his  intellectual  and  religious  side. 

Broadly  speaking,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Japanese, 
receiving  passively  the  Chinese  classics,  were  content 
simply  to  copy  and  to  recite  what  they  had  learned.  As 
compared  with  their  audacity  in  not  only  going  beyond 
the  teachings  of  Buddha,  but  in  inventing  systems  of 
Buddhism  which  neither  Gautama  nor  his  first  disciples 
could  recognize,  the  docile  and  almost  slavish  adhe- 
rence to  ancient  Confucianism  is  one  of  the  astonishing 
things  in  the  history  of  religions  in  Japan.  In  the 
field  of  Buddhism  we  have  a  luxuriant  growth  of  new 
and  strange  species  of  colossal  weeds  that  overtower 
and  seem  to  have  choked  out  whatever  furze  of  original 
Buddhism  there  was  in  Japan,  while  in  the  domain  of 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     141 

Confucianism  there  is  a  barren  heath.  Whereas,  in 
China,  the  voluminous  literature  created  by  commen- 
tators on  Confucius  and  the  commentaries  on  the  com- 
mentators suggests  the  hyperbole  used  by  the  author  of 
John's  Gospel,8  yet  there  is  probably  nothing  on  Con- 
fucianism from  the  Japanese  pen  in  the  thousand  years 
under  our  review  which  is  worth  the  reading  or  the 
translation.9  In  this  respect  the  Japanese  genius 
showed  its  vast  capabilities  of  imitation,  adoption  and 
assimilation. 

As  of  old,  Confucianism  again  furnished  a  Chinese 
wall,  within  which  the  Japanese  could  move,  and 
wherein  they  might  find  food  for  the  mind  in  all  the' 
relations  of  life  and  along  all  the  lines  of  achievement 
permitted  them.  The  philosophy  imported  from  China, 
as  shown  again  and  again  in  that  land  of  oft-changing 
dynasties,  harmonizing  with  arbitrary  government,  ac- 
corded perfectly  with  the  despotism  of  the  Tokugawas, 
the  "  Tycoons  "  who  in  Yedo  ruled  from  1603  to  1868. 
Nothing  new  was  permitted,  and  any  attempt  at  modi- 
fication, enlargement,  or  improvement  was  not  only 
frowned  and  hissed  down  as  impious  innovation,  but 
usually  brought  upon  the  daring  innovator  the  ban  of 
the  censor,  imprisonment,  banishment,  or  death  by  en- 
forced suicide.10  In  Yedo,  the  centre  of  Chinese  learn- 
ing, and  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  there  were,  in- 
deed, thinkers  whose  philosophy  did  not  always  tally 
with  what  was  taught  by  the  orthodox,11  but  as  a  rule 
even  when  these  men  escaped  the  ban  of  the  censor, 
or  the  sword  of  the  executioner,  they  were  but  as 
voices  crying  in  the  wilderness.  The  great  mass  of 
the  gentry  was  orthodox,  according  to  the  standards 
of  the  Seido  College,  while  the  common  people  re- 


142  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

mained  faithful  to  Buddhism.  In  the  conduct  of  daily 
life  they  followed  the  precepts  which  had  for  centuries 
been  taught  them  by  their  fathers. 

Philosophical  Confucianism  the  Religion  of  the  Samurai. 

What  were  the  features  of  this  modern  Confucian 
philosophy,  which  the  Japanese  Samurai  exalted  to  a 
religion  ?  12  We  say  philosophy  and  religion,  because 
while  the  teachings  of  the  great  sage  lay  at  the  bottom 
of  the  system,  yet  it  is  not  true  since  the  early  seven- 
teenth century,  that  the  thinking  men  of  Japan  have 
been  satisfied  with  only  the  original  simple  ethical 
rules  of  the  ancient  master.  Though  they  have  craved 
a  richer  mental  pabulum,  yet  they  have  enjoyed  less 
the  study  of  the  original  text,  than  acquaintance  with 
the  commentaries  and  communion  with  the  great  philo- 
sophical exponents,  of  the  master.  What,  then,  we  ask, 
are  the  features  of  the  developed  philosophy,  which, 
imported  from  China,  served  the  Japanese  Samurai  not 
only  as  morals  but  for  such  religion  as  he  possessed  or 
professed  ? 

We  answer  :  The  system  was  not  agnostic,  as  many 
modern  and  western  writers  assert  that  it  is,  and  as 
Confucius,  transmitting  and  probably  modifying  the 
old  religion,  had  made  the  body  of  his  teachings  to  be. 
Agnostic,  indeed,  in  regard  to  many  things  wherein 
a  Christian  has  faith,  modern  Confucianism,  besides 
being  bitterly  polemic  and  hostile  to  Buddhism,  is 
pantheistic. 

Certain  it  is  that  during  the  revival  of  Pure  Shinto 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  scholars  of  the  Shinto 
school,  and  those  of  its  great  rival,  the  Chinese,  agreed 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     143 

in  making  loyalty 13  take  the  place  of  filial  duty  in  the 
Confucian  system.  To  serve  the  cause  of  the  Emperor 
became  the  most  essential  duty  to  those  with  culti- 
vated minds.  The  newer  Chinese  philosophy  mightily 
influenced  the  historians,  Eai  Sanyo  and  those  of  the 
Mito  school,  whose  works,  now  classic,  really  began  the 
revolution  of  1868.  By  forming  and  setting  in  motion 
the  public  opinion,  which  finally  overthrew  the  Sho- 
gun  and  feudalism,  restored  the  Emperor  to  supreme 
power,  and  unified  the  nation,  they  helped,  with  mod- 
ern ideas,  to  make  the  New  Japan  of  our  day.  The 
Shinto  and  the  Chinese  teachings  became  amalgamated 
in  a  common  cause,  and  thus  the  philosophy  of  Chu 
Hi,  mingling  with  the  nationalism  and  patriotism  in- 
culcated by  Shinto,  brought  about  a  remarkable  result. 
As  a  native  scholar  and  philosopher  observes,  "It 
certainly  is  strange  to  see  the  Tokugawa  rule  much 
shaken,  if  not  actually  overthrown,  by  that  doctrine 
which  generations  of  able  Shoguns  and  their  ministers 
had  earnestly  encouraged  and  protected.  It  is  perhaps 
still  more  remarkable  to  see  the  Mito  clan,  under  many 
able  and  active  chiefs,  become  the  centre  of  the  Kinno  u 
movement,  which  was  to  result  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
Tokugawa  family,  of  which  it  was  itself  a  branch." 

A  Medley  of  Pantheism. 

The  philosophy  of  modern  Confucianism  is  wholly 
pantheistic.  There  is  in  it  no  such  thing  or  being  as 
God.  The  orthodox  pantheism  of  Old  Japan  means 
that  everything  in  general  is  god,  but  nothing  in  par- 
ticular is  God  ;  that  All  is  god,  but  not  that  God  is  all. 
It  is  a  "  pantheistic  medley." 15 


144  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Chu  Hi  and  his  Japanese  successors,  especially  Kyu- 
so,  argue  finely  and  discourse  volubly  about  Ki 16  or 
spirit ;  but  it  is  not  Spirit,  or  spiritual  in  the  sense  of 
Him  who  taught  even  a  woman  at  the  well-curb  at 
Sychar.  It  is  in  the  air.  It  is  in  the  earth,  the  trees, 
the  flowers.  It  comes  to  consciousness  in  man.  His 
Ri  is  the  Tao  of  Lao  Tsze,  the  Way,  Reason,  Law.  It 
is  formless,  invisible. 

"  Ki  is  not  separate  from  Ki,  for  then  it  were  an  empty  ab- 
stract thing.  It  is  joined  to  Ki,  and  may  be  called,  by  nature, 
one  decreed,  changeless  Norm.  It  is  the  rule  of  Ki,  the  very 
centre,  the  reason  why  Ki  is  Ki." 

Ten  or  Heaven  is  not  God  or  the  abode  of  God,  but 
an  abstraction,  a  sort  of  Unknowable,  or  Primordial 

Necessity. 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  Sages  knows  and  worships  Heaven, 
and  without  faith  in  it  there  is  no  truth.  For  men  and  things, 
the  universe,  are  born  and  nourished  by  Heaven,  and  the 
*  Way,'  the  '  ri,'  that  is  in  all,  is  the  « Way,'  the  '  ri '  of  Heaven. 
Distinguishing  root  and  branch,  the  heart  is  the  root  of  Heaven 
and  the  appearance,  the  revolution  of  the  sun  and  moon,  the 
order  of  the  stars,  is  the  branch.  The  books  of  the  sages  teach 
us  to  conform  to  the  heart  of  Heaven  and  deal  not  with  appear- 
ances." 

' '  The  teaching  of  the  sages  is  the  original  truth  and,  given 
to  men,  it  forms  both  their  nature  and  their  relationships. 
With  it  complete,  naught  else  is  needed  for  the  perfect  follow- 
ing of  the  '  Way.'  Let  then  the  child  make  its  parents  Heaven, 
the  retainer,  his  Lord,  the  wife  her  husband,  and  let  each  give 
up  life  for  righteousness.  Thus  will  each  serve  for  Heaven. 
But  if  we  exalt  Heaven  above  parent  or  Lord,  we  shall  come  to 
think  we  can  serve  it  though  they  be  disobeyed  and  like  tiger 
or  wolf  shall  rejoice  to  kill  them.  To  such  fearful  end  does 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     145 

the  Western  learning  lead.     .     .     .     Let  each  one  die  for  duty, 
there  is  naught  else  we  can  do." 

Thus  wrote  Ohashi  Junzo,  as  late  as  1857  A.D.,  the 
same  year  in  which  Townsend  Harris  entered  Yedo  to 
teach  the  practical  philosophy  of  Christendom,  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man  as  expressed  in  diplomacy.  Ohashi 
Junzo  bitterly  opposed  the  opening  of  Japan  to  modern 
civilization  and  the  ideas  of  Christendom.  His  book 
was  the  swan-song  of  the  dying  Japanese  Confucianism. 
Slow  as  is  the  dying,  and  hard  as  its  death  may  be,  the 
mind  of  new  Japan  has  laid  away  to  dust  and  oblivion 
the  Tei-shu  philosophy.  "  At  present  they  (the  Chi- 
nese classics)  have  fallen  into  almost  total  neglect, 
though  phrases  and  allusions  borrowed  from  them  still 
pass  current  in  literature,  and  even  to  some  extent  in 
the  language  of  every-day  life."  Seido,  the  great  tem- 
ple of  Confucius  in  Tokyo,  is  now  utilized  as  an  educa- 
tional Museum.17 

A  study  of  this  subject  and  of  comparative  relig- 
ion, is  of  immediate  practical  benefit  to  the  Christian 
teacher.  The  preacher,  addressing  an  audience  made 
up  of  educated  Japanese,  who  speaks  of  God  without 
describing  his  personality,  character,  or  attributes  as 
illustrated  in  Eevelation,  will  find  that  his  hearers  re- 
cede his  term  as  the  expression  for  a  bundle  of  ab- 
stract principles,  or  a  system  of  laws,  or  some  kind  of 
regulated  force.  They  do,  indeed,  make  some  refer- 
ence to  a  "  creator  "  by  using  a  rare  word.  Occasion- 
ally, their  language  seems  to  touch  the  boundary  line 
on  the  other  side  of  which  is  conscious  intelligence, 
but  nothing  approaching  the  clearness  and  definiteness 
of  the  early  Chinese  monotheism  of  the  pre-Confucian 
classics  is  to  be  distinguished.18  The  modern  Japan- 
10 


146  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ese  long  ago  heard  joyfully  the  words,  "Honor  the 
gods,  but  keep  them  far  from  you,"  and  he  has  done  it. 
To  love  God  would  no  more  occur  to  a  Japanese 
gentleman  than  to  have  his  child  embrace  and  kiss 
him.  Whether  the  source  and  fountain  of  life  of  which 
they  speak  has  any  Divine  Spirit,  is  very  uncertain, 
but  whether  it  has,  or  has  not,  man  need  not  obey, 
much  less  worship  him.  The  universe  is  one,  the  es- 
sence is  the  same.  Man  must  seek  to  know  his  place 
in  the  universe ;  he  is  but  one  in  an  endless  chain  ;  let 
him  find  his  part  and  fulfil  that  part ;  all  else  is  vanity. 
One  need  not  inquire  into  the  origins  or  the  ulti  mates. 
Man  is  moved  by  a  power  greater  than  himself ;  he  has 
no  real  independence  of  his  own ;  everything  has  its 
rank  and  place ;  indeed,  its  rank  and  place  is  its  sole 
title  to  a  separate  existence.  If  a  man  mistakes  his 
place  he  is  a  fool,  he  deserves  punishment. 

The  Ideals  of  a  Samurai. 

Out  of  his  place,  man  is  not  man.  Duty  is  more  im- 
portant than  being.  Nearly  everything  in  our  life  is 
fixed  by  fate ;  there  may  seem  to  be  exceptions,  because 
some  wicked  men  are  prosperous  and  some  righteous 
men  are  wretched,  but  these  are  not  real  exceptions  to 
the  general  rule  that  we  are  made  for  our  environment 
and  fitted  to  it.  And  then,  again,  it  may  be  that  our 
judgments  are  not  correct.  Let  the  heart  be  right  and 
all  is  well.  Let  man  be  obedient  and  his  outward  cir- 
cumstance is  nothing,  having  no  relation  to  his  joy  or 
happiness.  Even  when  as  to  his  earthly  body  man 
passes  away,  he  is  not  destroyed ;  the  drop  again  be- 
comes part  of  the  sea,  the  spark  re-enters  the  flame! 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     147 

and  his  life  continues,  though  it  be  not  a  conscious 
life.  In  this  way  man  is  in  harmony  with  the  origi- 
nal principle  of  all  things.  He  outlasts  the  universe 
itself. 

Hence  to  a  conscientious  Samurai  there  is  nothing 
in  this  world  better  than  obedience,  in  the  ideal  of  a 
true  man.  What  he  fears  most  and  hates  most  is  that 
his  memory  may  perish,  that  he  shall  have  no  seed, 
that  he  shall  be  forgotten  or  die  under  a  cloud  and  be 
thought  treacherous  or  cowardly  or  base,  when  in  real- 
ity his  life  was  pure  and  his  motives  high.  "  Better," 
sang  Yoshida  Shoin,  the  dying  martyr  for  his  princi- 
ples, "to  be  a  crystal  and  to  be  broken,  than  to  be  a 
tile  upon  the  housetop  and  remain." 

So,  indeed,  on  a  hundred  curtained  execution 
grounds,  with  the  dirk  of  the  suicide  firmly  grasped 
and  about  to  shed  their  own  life-blood,  have  sung  the 
martyrs  who  died  willingly  for  their  faith  in  their  idea 
of  Yamato  Damashii.19  In  untold  instances  in  the 
national  history,  men  have  died  willingly  and  cheer- 
fully, and  women  also  by  thousands,  as  brave,  as  un- 
flinching as  the  men,  so  that  the  story  of  Japanese 
chivalry  is  almost  incredible  in  its  awful  suicides. 
History  reveals  a  state  of  society  in  which  cool  deter- 
mination, desperate  courage  and  fearlessness  of  death 
in  the  face  of  duty  were  quite  unique,  and  which  must 
have  had  their  base  in  some  powerful  though  abnormal 
co  le  of  ethics. 

This  leads  us  to  consider  again  the  things  empha- 
sized by  Japanese  as  distinct  from  Chinese  and 
Korean20  Confucianism,  and  to  call  attention  to  its 
fruits,  while  at  the  same  time  we  note  its  defects,  and 
show  wherein  it  failed.  We  shall  then  show  how  this 


148  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

old  system  has  already  waxed  old  and  is  passing  away. 
Christ  has  come  to  Japan,  and  behold  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth ! 

New  Japan  Makes  Revision. 

First.  For  sovereign  and  minister,  there  are  coming 
into  vogue  new  interpretations.  This  relation,  if  it  is 
to  remain  as  the  first,  will  become  that  of  the  ruler  and 
the  ruled.  Constitutional  government  has  begun ;  and 
codes  of  law  have  been  framed  which  are  recognizing 
the  rights  of  the  individual  and  of  the  people.  Even  a 
woman  has  rights  before  the  law,  in  relation  to  hus- 
band, parents,  brothers,  sisters  and  children.  It  is 
even  beginning  to  be  thought  that  children  have  rights. 
Let  us  hope  that  as  the  rights  are  better  understood 
the  duties  will  be  equally  clear. 

It  is  coming  to  pass  in  Japan  that  even  in  govern- 
ment, the  sovereign  must  consult  with  his  people  on  all 
questions  pertaining  to  their  welfare.  Although  thus 
far  the  constitutional  government  makes  the  ministers 
responsible  to  the  Sovereign  instead  of  to  the  Diet, 
yet  the  contention  of  the  enlightened  men  and  the  lib- 
eral parties  is,  that  the  ministers  shall  be  responsible 
to  the  Diet.  The  time  seems  at  hand  when  the  sover- 
eign's power  over  his  people  will  not  rest  on  tradi- 
tions more  or  less  uncertain,  on  history  manufactured 
by  governmental  order,  on  mythological  claims  based 
upon  the  so-called  "  eternal  ages,"  on  prerogatives  up- 
held by  the  sword,  or  on  the  supposed  grace  of  the 
gods,  but  will  be  "broad-based  upon  the  people's  will." 
The  power  of  the  rulers  will  be  derived  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed.  The  Emperor  will  become  the 
first  and  chief  servant  of  the  nation. 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM 

Eevision  and  improvement  of  the  Second  Eelation 
will  make  filial  piety  something  more  real  than  that 
unto  which  China  has  attained,  or  Japan  has  yet  seen, 
or  which  is  yet  universally  known  in  Christendom.  The 
tyranny  of  the  father  and  of  the  older  brother,  and  the 
sale  of  daughters  to  shame, will  pass  away;  and  there 
will  arise  in  the  Japanese  house,  the  Christian  home. 

It  would  be  hard  to  say  what  Confucianism  has  done 
for  woman.  It  is  probable  that  all  civilizations,  and 
systems  of  philosophy,  ethics  and  religion,  can  be 
well  tested  by  this  criterion — the  position  of  woman. 
Confucianism  virtually  admits  two  standards  of  moral- 
ity, one  for  man,  another  for  woman.21  In  Chinese 
Asia  adultery  is  indeed  branded  as  one  of  the  vilest  of 
crimes,  but  in  common  idea  and  parlance  it  is  a  wom- 
an's crime,  not  man's.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  chas- 
tity is  a  female  virtue,  it  is  part  of  womanly  duty,  it 
has  little  or  no  relation  to  man  personally.  Eight  re- 
vision and  improvement  of  the  Third  Eelation  will 
abolish  concubinage.  It  will  reform  divorce.  It  will 
make  love  the  basis  of  marriage.  It  will  change  the 
state  of  things  truthfully  pictured  in  such  books  as  the 
Genji  Monogatari,  or  Eomance  of  Prince  Genji,  with 
its  examples  of  horrible  lust  and  incests ;  the  Kojiki 
or  Ethnic  scripture,  with  its  naive  accounts  of  filthiness 
among  the  gods ;  the  Onna  Dai  Gaku,  Woman's  Great 
Study,  with  its  amazing  subordination  and  moral  sla- 
very of  wife  and  daughter ;  and  The  Japanese  Bride,  of 
yesterday — all  truthful  pictures  of  Japanese  life,  for 
the  epoch  in  which  each  was  written.  These  books  will 
become  the  forgotten  curiosities  of  literature,  known, 
only  to  the  archaeologist. 

Improvement  and  revision  of  the  Fourth  Relation, 


150  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

will  bring  into  the  Japanese  home  more  justice,  right- 
eousness, love  and  enjoyment  of  life.  It  will  make 
possible,  also,  the  cheerful  acceptance  and  glad  prac- 
tice of  those  codes  of  law  common  in  Christendom, 
which  are  based  upon  the  rights  of  the  individual  and 
upon  the  idea  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber. It  will  help  to  abolish  the  evils  which  come  from 
primogeniture  and  to  release  the  clutch  of  the  dead 
hand  upon  the  living.  It  will  decrease  the  power  of 
the  graveyard,  and  make  thought  and  care  for  the  liv- 
ing the  rule  of  life.  It  will  abolish  sham  and  fiction, 
and  promote  the  cause  of  truth.  It  will  hasten  the 
reign  of  righteousness  and  love,  and  beneath  propriety 
and  etiquette  lay  the  basis  of  "charity  toward  all, 
malice  toward  none." 

Kevision  with  improvement  of  the  Fifth  Belation 
hastens  the  reign  of  universal  brotherhood.  It  lifts 
up  the  fallen,  the  down-trodden  and  the  outcast.  It 
says  to  the  slave  "  be  free,"  and  after  having  said  "  be 
free,"  educates,  trains,  and  lifts  up  the  brother  once 
in  servitude,  and  helps  him  to  forget  his  old  estate 
and  to  know  his  rights  as  well  as  his  duties,  and  de- 
velops in  him  the  image  of  God.  It  says  to  the  hi- 
nin  or  not-human,  "  be  a  man,  be  a  citizen,  accept  the 
protection  of  the  law."  It  says  to  the  eta,  "  come  into 
humanity  and  society,  receive  the  protection  of  law, 
and  the  welcome  of  your  fellows ;  let  memory  forget 
the  past  and  charity  make  a  new  future."  It  will 
bring  Japan  into  the  fraternity  of  nations,  making  her 
people  one  with  the  peoples  of  Christendom,  not 
through  the  empty  forms  of  diplomacy,  or  by  the  craft 
of  her  envoys,  or  by  the  power  of  her  armies  and  navies 
reconstructed  on  modern  principles,  but  by  patient 


CONFUCIANISM  IN  PHILOSOPHICAL  FORM     151 

education  and  unflinching  loyalty  to  high  ideals.  Thus 
will  Japan  become  worthy  of  all  the  honors,  which  the 
highest  humanity  on  this  planet  can  bestow. 

The  Ideal  of  Yamato  Damasliii  Enlarged. 

In  this  our  time  it  is  not  only  the  alien  from  Chris- 
tendom, with  his  hostile  eye  and  mordant  criticism, 
who  is  helping  to  undermine  that  system  of  ethics 
which  permitted  the  sale  of  the  daughter  to  shame,  the 
introduction  of  the  concubine  into  the  family  and  the 
reduction  of  woman,  even  though  wife  and  mother,  to 
nearly  a  cipher.  It  is  not  only  the  foreigner  who  as- 
saults that  philosophy  which  glorified  the  vendetta, 
kept  alive  private  war,  made  revenge  in  murder  the 
sweetest  joy  of  the  Samurai  and  suicide  the  gate  to 
honor  and  fame,  subordinated  the  family  to  the  house, 
and  suppressed  individuality  and  personality.  It  is  the 
native  Japanese,  no  longer  a  hermit,  a  "frog  in  the 
well,  that  knows  not  the  great  ocean  "  but  a  student, 
an  inquirer,  and  a  critic,  who  assaults  the  old  ethical 
and  philosophical  system,  and  calls  for  a  new  way 
between  heaven  and  earth,  and  a  new  kind  of  Heaven 
in  which  shall  be  a  Creator,  a  Father  and  a  Saviour. 
The  brain  and  pen  of  New  Japan,  as  well  as  its  heart, 
demand  that  the  family  shall  be  more  than  the  house 
and  that  the  living  members  shall  have  greater  rights 
as  well  as  duties,  than  the  dead  ancestors.  They  claim 
that  the  wife  shall  share  responsibility  with  the  hus- 
band, and  that  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife  shall 
take  precedence  of  that  of  the  father  and  son  ;  that  the 
mother  shall  possess  equal  authority  with  the  father  ; 
that  the  wife,  whether  she  be  mother  or  not,  shall 


152  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

not  be  compelled  to  share  her  home  with  the  concu- 
bine ;  and  that  the  child  in  Japan  shall  be  born  in  the 
home  and  not  in  the  herd.  The  sudden  introduction 
of  the  Christian  ideas  of  personality  and  individuality 
has  undoubtedly  wrought  peril  to  the  framework  of  a 
society  which  is  built  according  to  the  Confucian  prin- 
ciples ;  but  faith  in  God,  love  in  the  home,  and  abso- 
lute equality  before  the  law  will  bring  about  a  reign 
of  righteousness  such  as  Japan  has  never  known,  but 
toward  the  realization  of  which  .Christian  nations  are 
ever  advancing. 

Even  the  old  ideal  of  the  Samurai  embodied  in  the 
formula  Yamato  Damashii  will  be  enlarged  and  im- 
proved from  its  narrow  limits  and  ferocious  aspects, 
when  the  tap-root  of  all  progress  is  allowed  to  strike 
into  deeper  truth,  and  the  Sixth  Relation,  or  rather  the 
first  relation  of  all,  is  taught,  namely,  that  of  God  to 
Man,  and  of  Man  to  God.  That  this  relation  is  un- 
derstood, and  that  the  Samurai  ideal,  purified  and 
enlarged,  is  held  by  increasing  numbers  of  Japan's 
brightest  men  and  noblest  women,  is  shown  in  that 
superb  Christian  literature  which  pours  from  the  pens 
of  the  native  men  and  w^omen  in  the  Japanese  Chris- 
tian churches.  Under  this  flood  of  truth  the  old  ob- 
stacles to  a  nobler  society  are  washed  away,  while  out 
of  the  enriched  soil  rises  the  new  Japan  which  is  to  be  a 
part  of  the  better  Christendom  that  is  to  come.  Christ 
in  Japan,  as  everywhere,  means  not  destruction,  but 
fulfilment. 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NOETHEKN  ASIA 


"  LIFE  is  A  DREAM  is  what  the  pilgrim  learns, 
Nor  asks  for  more,  but  straightway  home  returns." 

— Japanese  mediaeval  lyric  drama. 

"  The  purpose  of  Buddha's  preaching  was  to  bring  into  light  the  per- 
manent truth,  to  reveal  the  root  of  all  suffering,  and  thus  to  lead  all  senti- 
ent beings  into  the  perfect  emancipation  from  all  passions. " — Outlines  of 
the  Mahayana. 

u  Buddhism  will  stand  forth  as  the  embodiment  of  the  eternal  verity 
that  as  a  man  sows  he  will  reap,  associated  with  the  duties  of  mastery  over 
self  and  kindness  to  all  men,  and  quickened  into  a  popular  religion  by  the 
example  of  a  noble  and  beautiful  life." — Dbarmapala  of  Ceylon. 

"Buddhism  teaches  the  right  path  of  ca-ise  and  effect,  and  nothing 
which  can  supersede  the  idea  of  cause  and  effect  will  be  accepted  and  be- 
lieved. Buddha  himself  cannot  contradict  this  law  which  is  the  Bnddha 
of  Buddhas,  and  no  omnipotent  power  except  this  law  is  believed  to  be  ex- 
istent in  the  universe. 

"  Buddhism  does  not  quarrel  with  other  religions  about  the  truth  .  .  . 
Buddhism  is  truth  common  to  every  religion  regardless  of  the  outside  gar- 
ment."—Horin  Toki,  of  Japan. 

"  Death  we  can  face ;  but  knowing,  as  some  of  us  do,  what  is  human 
life,  which  of  us  is  it  that  without  shuddering  could  (if  we  were  sum- 
moned) face  the  hour  of  birth  ?  " — De  Quincey. 

The  prayer  of  Buddhism,  "  Deliver  us  from  existence." 
The  prayer  of  the  Christian,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil." 

"  In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth." — Genesis. 

"  I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly. " — Jesus. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

THE  BUDDHISM   OF   NORTHERN  ASIA 
Pre-Enddliistic  India 

DOES  the  name  of  Gautama,  the  Buddha,  stand  for 
a  sun-myth  or  for  a  historic  personage  ?  One  set  of 
scholars  and  Avriters,  represented  by  Professor  Kern,1 
of  Leyden,  thinks  the  Buddha  a  mythical  personage. 
Another  school,  represented  by  Professor  T.  Khys 
Davids,2  declares  that  he  lived  in  human  flesh  and 
breathed  the  air  of  earth.  We  accept  the  historical 
view  as  best  explaining  the  facts. 

In  order  to  understand  a  religion,  in  its  origin  at 
least,  we  must  know  some  of  the  conditions  out  of 
which  it  arose.  Buddhism  is  one  of  the  protestant- 
isms of  the  world.  Yet,  is  not  every  religion,  in  one 
sense,  protestant  ?  Is  it  not  a  protest  against  some- 
thing to  which  it  opposes  a  difference  ?  Every  new 
religion,  like  a  growing  plant,  ignores  or  rejects  cer- 
tain elements  in  the  soil  out  of  which  it  springs.  It 
takes  up  and  assimilates,  also,  other  elements  not 
used  before,  in  order  to  produce  a  flower  or  fruit  dif- 
ferent from  other  growths  out  of  the  same  soil.  Yet 
whether  the  new  religion  be  considered  as  a  devel- 
opment, fulfilment,  or  protest,  we  rnust  know  its  his 
torical  perspective  or  background.  To  understand  the 
origin  of  Buddhism,  one  of  the  best  preparations  is  to 


156  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

read  the  history  of  India  and  especially  of  the  thought 
of  her  many  generations  ;  for  the  landmarks  of  the 
civilizations  of  India,  as  a  Hindu  may  proudly  say, 
are  its  mighty  literatures.  At  these  let  us  glance.3 

The  age  of  the  Yedas  extends  from  the  year  2000 
to  1400  B.C.,  and  the  history  of  this  early  India  is 
wonderfully  like  that  of  America.  During  this  era,  the 
Hindus,  one  of  the  seven  Aryan  tribes  of  which  the 
Persian,  Greek,  Latin,  Celtic,  Sclav  and  Teutonic 
form  the  other  six,  descending  from  the  mid-Asian 
plateau,  settled  the  Punjab  in  Northwest  India.  They 
drove  the  dark-skinned  aborigines  before  them  and  re- 
claimed forest  and  swamp  to  civilization,  making  the 
land  of  the  seven  rivers  bright  with  agriculture  and 
brilliant  with  cities.  This  was  the  glorious  heroic  age 
of  joyous  life  and  conquest,  when  men  who  believed  in 
a  Heavenly  Father4  made  the  first  epoch  of  Hindu 
history. 

Then  followed  the  epic  age,  1400-1000  B.C.,  when 
the  area  of  civilization  was  extended  still  farther  down 
the  Ganges  Valley,  the  splendor  of  wealth,  learning, 
military  prowess  and  social  life  excelling  that  of  the 
ancestral  seats  in  the  Punjab.  Amid  differences  of 
wars  and  diplomacy  with  rivalries  and  jealousies,  a 
common  sacred  language,  literature  and  religion  with 
similar  social  and  religious  institutions,  united  the 
various  nations  together.  In  this  time  the  old  Vedas 
were  compiled  into  bodies  or  collections,  and  the 
Brahrnanas  and  the  Upanishads,  besides  the  great  epic 
poems,  the  Mahabharata  and  the  Eamayana  were  com- 
posed. 

The  next,  or  rationalistic  epoch,  covers  the  period 
from  1000  B.C.  to  320  B.C.,  when  the  Hindu  expansion 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        157 

had  covered  all  India,  that  is,  the  peninsula  from  the 
Himalayas  to  Cape  Comorin.  Then,  all  India,  includ- 
ing Ceylon,  was  Hinduized,  though  in  differing  degrees ; 
the  purest  Aryan  civilization  being  in  the  north,  the 
less  pure  in  the  Ganges  Valley  and  south  and  east, 
while  the  least  Aryan  and  more  Dravidian  was  in  Ben- 
gal, Orissa,  and  India  south  of  the  Kistna  Kiver. 

This  story  of  the  spread  of  Hindu  civilization  is  a 
brilliant  one,  and  seems  as  wonderful  as  the  later 
European  conquest  of  the  land,  and  of  the  other  "  In- 
dians "  of  North  America  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific. Beside  the  conquests  in  material  civilization  of 
these  our  fellow-Aryans  (who  were  the  real  Indians, 
and  who  spoke  the  language  which  is  the  common  an- 
cestor of  our  own  and  of  most  European  tongues),  what 
impresses  us  most  of  all,  in  these  Aryans,  is  their  in- 
tellectual energy.  The  Hindus  of  the  rationalistic  age 
made  original  discoveries.  They  invented  grammar, 
geometry,  arithmetic,  decimal  notation,  and  they  elabo- 
rated astronomy,  medicine,  mental  philosophy  and  logic 
(with  syllogism)  before  these  sciences  were  known  or 
perfected  in  Greece.  In  the  seventh  century  before 
Christ,  Kapila  taught  a  system  of  philosophy,  of  which 
that  of  the  Europeans,  Schopenhaur  and  Hartmaun, 
seems  largely  a  reproduction. 

Following  this  agnostic  scheme  of  thought,  came, 
several  centuries  later,  the  dualistic  Yoga5  system  in 
which  the  chief  feature  is  the  conception  of  Deity  as 
a  means  of  final  emancipation  of  the  human  soul  from 
further  transmigration,  and  of  union  with  the  Universal 
Spirit  or  World  Soul.  There  is,  however,  perhaps  no 
sadder  chapter  in  the  history  of  human  thought  than 
the  story  of  the  later  degeneration  of  the  Yoga  system 


158  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

into  one  of  bloody  and  cruel  rites  in  India,  and  of  su- 
perstition in  China. 

Still  other  systems  followed  :  one  by  Gautama,  of  the 
same  clan  or  family  of  the  later  Buddha,  who  develops 
inference  by  the  construction  of  syllogism ;  while 
Kanada  follows  the  atomic  philosophy  in  which  the 
atoms  are  eternal,  but  the  aggregates  perishable  by  dis- 
integration. 

Against  these  schools,  which  seemed  to  be  danger- 
ous "new  departures,"  orthodox  Hindus,  anxious  for 
their  ancient  beliefs  and  practices  as  laid  down  in  the 
Vedas,  started  fresh  systems  of  philosophy,  avowedly 
more  in  consonance  with  their  ancestral  faith.  One 
system  insisted  on  the  primitive  Vedic  ritual,  and  an- 
other laid  emphasis  on  the  belief  in  a  Universal  Soul 
first  inculcated  in  the  Upanishads. 

Conditions  out  of  which  Buddhism  Arose. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  these  schools  of  phil- 
osophy, or  the  connection  with  or  indebtedness  of 
Gautama,  the  Buddha,  to  them,  they  reveal  to  us  the 
conceptions  which  his  contemporaries  had  of  the  uni- 
verse and  the  beings  inhabiting  it.  These  were  honest 
human  attempts  to  find  God.  In  them  the  various 
beings  or  six  conditions  of  sentient  existence  are  devas 
or  gods  ;  men  ;  asuras  or  monsters  ;  pretas  or  demons  ; 
animals;  and  beings  in  hell.  Furthermore,  these 
schools  of  Hindu  philosophy  show  us  the  conditions 
out  of  which  Buddhism  arose,  furnish  us  with  its  ter- 
minology and  technical  phrases,  reveal  to  us  wrhat  the  re- 
former proposed  to  himself  to  do,  and,  what  is  perhaps 
still  more  important,  show  us  the  types  to  which 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        159 

Buddhism  in  its  degeneration  and  degradation  re- 
verted. The  strange  far-off  oriental  words  which  to- 
day scholars  discuss,  theosophists  manipulate,  and 
charlatans  employ  as  catchpennies  were  common 
words  in  the  every-day  speech  of  the  Hindu  people, 
two  or  three  thousand  years  ago. 

Glancing  rapidly  at  the  condition  of  religion  in  the 
era  ushering  in  the  birth  of  Buddha,  we  note  that  the 
old  joyousness  of  life  manifested  in  the  Yedic  hymns 
is  past,  their  fervor  and  glow  are  gone.  In  the  morn- 
ing of  Hindu  life  there  was  no  caste,  no  fixed  priest- 
hood, and  no  idols  ;  but  as  wealth,  civilization,  easy 
and  settled  life  succeeded,  the  taste  for  pompous  sac- 
rifices conducted  by  an  hereditary  priestly  caste  in- 
creased. Greater  importance  was  laid  upon  the  detail 
of  the  ceremonies,  the  attention  of  the  worshipper  being 
turned  from  the  deities  "  to  the  minutiae  of  rites,  the 
erection  of  altars,  the  fixing  of  the  proper  astronomical 
moments  for  lighting  the  fire,  the  correct  pronunciation 
of  prayers,  and  to  the  various  requisite  acts  accompany- 
ing a  sacrifice." 6  In  the  chapter  of  decay  which  time 
wrote  and  literature  reflects,  we  find  "  grotesque  rea- 
sons given  for  every  minute  rite,  dogmatic  explanation 
of  texts,  penances  for  every  breach  of  form  and  rule, 
and  elaborate  directions  for  every  act  and  moment  of 
the  worshipper." 

The  literature  shows  a  degree  of  credulity  and  sub- 
mission on  the  part  of  the  people  and  of  absolute 
power  on  the  part  of  the  priests,  which  reminds  us  of 
the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe.  The  old  inspiring  wars 
with  the  aborigines  are  over.  The  time  of  bearing  a 
noble  creed,  meaning  culture  and  civilization  as  against 
savagery  and  idolatry,  is  past,  and  only  intestine  quar- 


160  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

rels  and  local  strife  have  succeeded.  The  age  of  crea- 
tive literature  is  over,  and  commentators,  critics  and 
grammarians  have  succeeded.  Still  more  startling  are 
the  facts  disclosed  by  literary  history.  The  liquid 
poetry  has  become  frozen  prose  :  the  old  flaming  fuel  of 
genius  is  now  slag  and  ashes.  We  see  Hindus  doing 
exactly  what  Jewish  rabbis,  and  after  them  Christian 
schoolmen  and  dogma-makers,  did  with  the  old  Hebrew 
poems  and  prophecies.  Construing  literally  the  pray- 
ers, songs  and  hopes  of  an  earlier  age,  they  rebuild 
the  letter  of  the  text  into  creeds  and  systems,  and 
erect  an  amazing  edifice  of  steel-framed  and  stone- 
cased  tradition,  to  challenge  which  is  taught  to  be  her- 
esy and  impiety.  The  poetical  similes  used  in  the 
Rig  Yedas  have  been  transformed  into  mythological 
tales.  In  the  change  of  language  the  Vedas  themselves 
are  unreadable,  except  by  the  priests,  who  fatten  on 
popular  beliefs  in  the  transmigration  of  souls  and  in 
the  power  of  priestcraft  to  make  that  transmigration 
blissful — provided  liberal  gifts  are  duly  forthcoming. 
Idolatry  and  witchcraft  are  rampant.  Some  saviour, 
some  light  was  needed. 

Buddhism  a  Logical  Product  of  Hindu  Thought. 

At  such  a  time,  probably  557  B.C.,  was  born  Gautama, 
of  the  Sakya  clan,  at  Kapilavastu,  one  hundred  miles 
northeast  of  Benares.  We  pass  over  the  details7  of 
the  life  of  him  called  Prince,  Lord,  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of 
Sakya,  and  Saviour ;  of  his  desertion  of  wife  and  child, 
called  the  first  Great  Renunciation ;  of  his  struggles  to 
obtain  peace ;  of  his  enlightenment  or  Buddhahood  ; 
of  his  second  or  Greater  Eenunciation ;  of  merit  on  ac- 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         161 

count  of  austerities ;  and  give  the  story  told  in  a  moun- 
tain of  bjohs  in  various  tongues,  but  condensed  in  a 
paragraph  by  Ilomesh  Chunder  Dutt. 

"  At  an  early  age,  Prince  Gautama  left  his  royal  home,  and  his 
wife,  and  new-born  child,  and  became  a  wanderer  and  a  men- 
dicant, to  seek  a  way  of  salvation  for  man.  Hindu  rites,  ac- 
companied by  the  slaughter  of  innocent  victims,  repelled  his 
feelings.  Hindu  philosophy  afforded  him  no  remedy,  and 
Hindu  penances  and  mortifications  proved  unavailing  after  he 
had  practised  them  for  years.  At  last,  by  severe  contemplation, 
he  discovered  the  long  coveted  truth  ;  a  holy  and  calm  life,  and 
benevolence  and  love  toward  all  living  creatures  seemed  to  him 
the  essence  of  religion.  Self-culture  and  universal  love — this 
was  his  discovery — this  is  the  essence  of  Buddhism." 8 

From  one  point  of  view  Buddhism  was  the  logical 
continuance  of  Aryan  Hindoo  philosophy;  from  an- 
other point  of  view  it  was  a  new  departure.  The  lead- 
ing idea  in  the  Upanishads  is  that  the  object  of  the 
wise  man  should  be  to  know,  inwardly  and  consciously, 
the  Great  Soul  of  all ;  and  by  this  knowledge  his  indi- 
vidual soul  would  become  united  to  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  true  and  absolute  self.  This  was  the  high- 
est point  reached  in  the  old  Indian  philosophy9  before 
Buddha  was  born. 

So,  looking  at  Buddhism  in  the  perspective  of 
Hindu  history  and  thought,  we  may  say  that  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Gautama  intended  to  found  a  new 
religion.  As,  humanly  speaking,  Saul  of  Tarsus  saved 
Christianity  from  being  a  Jewish  sect  and  made  it  uni- 
versal, so  Gautama  extricated  the  new  enthusiasm  of 
humanity  from  the  priests.  He  made  Aryan  religion 
the  property  of  all  India.  What  had  been  a  rare 
monopoly  as  narrow  as  Judaism,  he  made  the  inheri- 
11 


162  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tance  of  all  Asia.  Gautama  was  a  protestant  and  a 
reformer,  not  an  agnostic  or  skeptic.  It  is  more  prob- 
able that  he  meant  to  shake  off  Brahmanism  and  to 
restore  the  pure  and  original  form  of  the  Aryan  religion 
of  the  Vedas,  as  far  as  it  was  possible  to  do  so.  In  one 
sense,  Buddhism  was  a  revolt  against  hereditary  and 
sacerdotal  privilege — an  attack  of  the  people  against 
priestcraft.  The  Buddha  and  his  disciples  were  level- 
lers. In  a  different  age  and  clime,  but  along  a  similar 
path,  they  did  a  work  analogous  to  that  of  the  so-called 
Anabaptists  in  Europe  and  Independents  in  England, 
centuries  later. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  Buddhism  has  grown 
logically  out  of  ancient  Hinduism.  In  its  monastic 
feature — one  of  its  most  striking  characteristics — we 
see  only  the  concentration  and  reduction  to  system,  of 
the  old  life  of  the  ascetics  and  religious  mendicants 
recognized  and  respected  by  Hinduism.  For  centu- 
ries the  Buddhist  monks  and  nuns  were  regarded  in 
India  as  only  a  new  sect  of  ascetics,  among  many  oth- 
ers which  flourished  in  the  land. 

The  Buddhist  doctrine  of  karma,  or  in  Japanese, 
ingwa,  of  cause  and  effect,  whereby  it  is  taught  that 
each  effect  in  this  life  springs  from  a  cause  in  some 
previous  incarnation,  and  that  each  act  in  this  life  bears 
its  fruit  in  the  next,  has  grown  directly  out  of  the 
Hindu  idea  of  the  transmigration  of  souls.  This  idea 
is  first  inculcated  in  the  Upanishads,  and  is  recognized 
in  Hindu  systems  of  philosophy. 

So  also  the  Buddhist  doctrine  of  Nirvana,  or  the  at- 
tainment of  a  sinless  state  of  existence,  has  grown  out 
of  the  idea  of  final  union  of  the  individual  soul  with 
the  Universal  Soul,  which  is  also  inculcated  in  the 


THE  BUDDHISM  Off  NORTHERN  ASIA        163 

Upanishads.  Yet,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Buddhists 
were,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Brahmans,  atheists,  because  in 
the  ken  of  these  new  levellers  gods  and  men  were  put 
on  the  same  plane.  Brahmanism  has  never  forgiven 
Buddhism  for  ignoring  the  gods,  and  the  Hindoos  fi- 
nally drove  out  the  followers  of  Gautama  from  India. 
It  eventuated  that  after  a  millenium  or  so  of  Buddhism 
in  India,  the  old  gods,  Brahma,  Indra,  etc.,  which  at  first 
had  been  shut  out  from  the  ken  of  the  people,  by  Gau- 
tama, found  their  places  again  in  the  popular  faith  of 
the  Buddhists,  who  believed  that  the  gods  as  well  as 
men,  were  all  progressing  toward  the  blessed  Nirvana 
—that  sinless  life  and  holy  calm,  which  is  the  Buddh- 
ist's heaven  and  salvation. 

It  is  certainly  very  curious,  and  in  a  sense  amusing, 
to  find  flourishing  in  far-off  Japan  the  old  gods  of  India, 
that  one  would  suppose  to  have  been  utterly  dead  and 
left  behind  in  oblivion.  As  acknowledged  devas  or 
kings  and  bodhisattvas  or  soon-to-be  Buddhas,  not  a 
few  once  defunct  Hindu  gods,  utterly  unknown  to 
early  Buddhism,  have  forced  their  way  into  the  com- 
pany of  the  elect.  Though  most  of  them  have  not 
gained  the  popularity  of  the  indigenous  deities  of  Nip- 
pon, they  yet  attract  many  worshippers.  They  remind 
one  that  amid  the  coming  of  the  sons  of  Elohim  be- 
fore Jehovah,  "  the  satan  "  came  also.10 

From  another  point  of  view  Buddhism  was  a  new 
religion ;  for  it  swept  away  and  out  of  the  field  of  its 
vision  the  whole  of  the  World  or  Universal  Soul 
theory.  "  It  proclaimed  a  salvation  which  each  man 
could  gain  for  himself  and  by  himself,  in  this  world 
during  this  life,  without  the  least  reference  to  God,  or 
to  gods,  either  great  or  small."  "  It  placed  the  first 


164  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

importance  on  knowledge  ;  but  it  was  no  longer  a 
knowledge  of  God,  it  was  a  clear  perception  of  the  real 
nature  as  they  supposed  it  to  be  of  men  and  things." 
In  a  word,  Gautama  never  reached  the  idea  of  a  per- 
sonal self -existent  God,  though  toward  that  truth  he 
groped.  He  was  satisfied  too  soon.11  His  followers 
were  even  more  easily  satisfied  with  abstractions. 
When  Gautama  saw  the  power  over  the  human  heart 
of  inward  culture  and  of  love  to  others,  he  obtained 
peace,  he  rested  on  certainty,  he  became  the  Buddha, 
that  is,  the  enlightened.  Perhaps  he  was  not  the  first 
Buddhist.  It  may  be  that  the  historical  Gautama,  if 
so  he  is  worthy  to  be  called,  merely  made  the  sect  or 
the  new  religion  famous.  Hardly  a  religion  in  the  full 
sense  of  the  word,  Buddhism  did  not  assume  the  role 
of  theology,  but  sought  only  to  know  men  and  things. 
In  one  sense  Buddhism  is  atheism,  or  rather,  atheistic 
humanism.  In  one  sense,  also,  the  solution  of  the 
mystery  of  God,  of  life,  and  of  the  universe,  which 
Gautama  and  his  followers  attained,  was  one  of  skepti- 
cism rather  than  of  faith.  Buddhism  is,  relatively,  a 
very  modern  religion  ;  it  is  one  of  the  new  faiths.  Is  it 
paradoxical  to  say  that  the  Buddhists  are  "  religious 
atheists  ?  " 

The  Buddhist  Millennium  in  India. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  life  of  the  Founder.  Day 
after  day,  the  pure-souled  teacher  attracted  new  dis- 
ciples while  he  with  alms-bowl  went  around  as  mendi- 
cant and  teacher.  Salvation  merely  by  self-control, 
and  love  without  any  rites,  ceremonies,  charms,  priestly 
powers,  gods  or  miracles,  formed  the  burden  of  his 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         105 

teachings.  "  Thousands  of  people  left  their  homes, 
embraced  the  holy  order  and  became  monks,  ignoring 
caste,  and  relinquishing  all  worldly  goods  except  the 
bare  necessaries  of  life,  which  they  possessed  and  en- 
joyed in  •common."  Probably  the  first  monastic  sys- 
tem of  the  world,  was  that  of  the  Indian  Buddhists. 

The  Buddha  preached  the  good  news  during  forty- 
five  years.  After  his  death,  five  hundred  of  his  follow- 
ers assembled  at  Kajagriha  and  chanted  together  the 
teachings  of  Gautama,  to  fix  them  in  memory.  A  hun- 
dred years  later,  in  377  B.C.,  came  the  great  schism 
among  the  Buddhists,  out  of  which  grew  the  divisions 
known  as  Northern  and  Southern  Buddhism.  There 
was  disagreement  on  ten  points.  A  second  council 
was  therefore  called,  and  the  disputed  points  deter- 
mined to  the  satisfaction  of  one  side.  Thereupon  the 
seceders  went  away  in  large  numbers,  and  the  differ- 
ences were  never  healed;  on  the  contrary,  they  have 
widened  in  the  course  of  ages. 

The  separatists  began  what  may  be  called  the  North- 
ern Buddhisms  of  Nepal,  Tibet,  China,  Korea  and 
Japan.  The  orthodox  or  Southern  Buddhists  are  those 
of  Ceylon,  Burma  and  Siam.  The  original  canon  of 
Southern  Buddhism  is  in  Pali ;  that  of  Northern 
Buddhism  is  in  Sanskrit.  The  one  is  comparatively 
small  and  simple ;  the  other  amazingly  varied  and  volu- 
minous. The  canon  of  Southern  scripture  is  called  the 
Hinayana,  the  Little  or  Smaller  Vehicle;  the  canon 
of  Northern  Buddhism  is  named  the  Mahayana  or 
Great  Vehicle.  Possibly,  also,  besides  the  Southern 
and  Northern  Buddhisms,  the  Buddhism  of  Japan  may 
be  treated  by  itself  and  named  Eastern  Buddhism. 

In  the  great  council  called  in  242  B.C.,  by  King  Asoka, 


166  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

who  may  be  termed  the  Constantine  of  Buddhism,  the 
sacred  texts  were  again  chanted.  It  was  not  until  the 
year  88  B.C.  in  Ceylon,  four  hundred  years  after  Gautama, 
that  the  three  Pitakas,  Boxes  or  Baskets,  were  com- 
mitted to  writing  in  the  Pali  language.  In  a  word, 
Buddhism  knows  nothing  of  sacred  documents  or  a 
canon  of  scripture  contemporary  with  its  first  disciples. 

The  splendid  Buddhist  age  of  India  lasted  nearly  a 
thousand  years,  and  was  one  of  superb  triumphs  in 
civilization.  It  was  an  age  of  spiritual  emancipation, 
of  freedom  from  idol  worship,  of  nobler  humanity  and 
of  peace.12  It  was  followed  by  the  Puranic  epoch  and 
the  dark  ages.  Then  Buddhism  was,  as  some  say, 
" driven  out"  from  the  land  of  its  birth,  finding  new  ex- 
pansion in  Eastern  and  Northern  Asia,  and  again,  a  still 
more  surprising  development  in  the  ultima-Thule  of 
the  Asiatic  continent,  Japan.  There  is  now  no  Buddh- 
ism in  India  proper,  the  faith  being  represented  only 
in  Ceylon  and  possibly  also  on  the  main  land,  by  the 
sect  of  the  Jains,  and  peradventure  in  Persia  by  Bab- 
ism  which  contains  elements  from  three  religions.13 
Like  Christianity,  Buddhism  was  "  driven  out "  of  its 
old  home  to  bless  other  nations  of  the  world.  It  is 
probably  far  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  Buddhism 
was  never  expelled  from  India,  but  rather  that  it  died 
by  disintegration  and  relapse.14  It  had  become  Brah- 
manism  again.  The  old  gods  and  the  old  idol-worship 
came  back.  It  is  in  Japan  that  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
eastern  and  western  civilization,  and  the  freest  and 
fullest  or  at  least  the  latest  developments  of  Christi- 
anity and  of  Buddhism,  have  met. 

In  its  transfer  to  distant  lands  and  its  developments 
throughout  Eastern  Asia,  the  faith  which  had  originated 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         167 

in  India  suffered  many  changes.  Dividing  into  two 
great  branches,  it  became  a  notably  different  religion 
according  as  it  moved  along  the  southern,  the  north- 
ern, or  the  eastern  channel.  By  the  vehicle  of  the 
Pali  language  it  was  carried  to  Ceylon,  Siam,  Burma, 
Cambodia  and  the  islands  of  the  south ;  that  is,  to 
southern  or  peninsular  and  insular  Asia.  Here  there 
is  little  evidence  of  any  striking  departure  from  the 
doctrines  of  the  Pali  Pitakas ;  and,  as  Southern  Buddh- 
ism does  not  greatly  concern  us  in  speaking  of  the  re- 
ligions of  Japan,  we  may  pass  it  by.  For  although  the 
books  and  writings  belonging  to  Southern  Buddhism, 
and  comprehended  under  the  formula  of  the  Hinayana 
or  Smaller  Vehicle,  have  been  studied  in  China,  Korea 
and  Japan,  yet  they  have  had  comparatively  little  in- 
fluence upon  doctrinal,  ritualistic,  or  missionary  de- 
velopment in  Chinese  Asia. 

Astonishingly  different  has  been  the  case  with  the 
Northern  Buddhisms  which  are  those  of  Nepal,  Tibet, 
Mongolia,  Manchuria,  China,  Korea  and  Japan.  As 
luxuriant  as  the  evolutions  of  political  and  dogmatic 
Christianity  and  as  radical  in  their  departures  from  the 
primitive  simplicity  of  the  faith,  have  been  these  forms 
of  Buddhist  doctrine,  ritual  and  organization.  We 
cannot  now  dwell  upon  the  wonderful  details  of  the 
vast  and  complicated  system,  differing  so  much  in 
various  countries.  We  pass  by,  or  only  glance  at,  the 
philosophy  of  the  Punjaub ;  the  metaphysics  of  Nepal 
— with  its  developments  into  what  some  writers  con- 
sider to  be  a  close  approach  to  monotheism,  and  others, 
indeed,  monotheism  itself ;  the  system  of  Lamaism  in 
Tibet,  which  has  paralleled  so  closely  the  develop- 
ment of  the  papal  hierarchy;  the  possibly  two  thou- 


168  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

sand  years'  growth  and  decay  of  Chinese  Buddhism ; 
the  varieties  of  the  Buddhism  of  Mongolia — almost 
swamped  in  the  Shamanistic  superstitions  of  these 
dwellers  on  the  plains ;  the  astonishing  success,  quick 
ripening,  decay,  and  almost  utter  annihilation,  among 
the  learned  and  governing  classes,  of  Korean  Buddh- 
ism ; 13  and  study  in  detail  only  Eastern  or  Japanese 
Buddhism. 

We  shall  in  this  lecture  attempt  but  two  things : 

I.  A  summary  of  the  process  of  thought  by  which 
the  chief  features  of  the  Northern  Buddhisms  came  in- 
to view. 

II.  An  outline  of  the  story  of  Japanese  Buddhism 
during  the  first  three  centuries  of  its  existence. 

The  Development  of  Northern  Buddhism. 

Leaving  the  early  Buddha  legends  and  the  solid 
ground  of  history,  the  makers  of  the  newer  Buddhist 
doctrines  in  Nepal  occupied  themselves  with  develop- 
ing the  theory  of  Buddhahood  and  of  the  Buddhas;16 
for  we  must  ever  remember  that  Buddha17  is  not  a 
proper  name,  but  a  common  adjective  meaning  enlight- 
ened, from  the  root  to  know,  perceive,  etc.  They  made 
constant  and  marvellous  additions  tp  the  primitive  doc- 
trine, giving  it  a  momentum  which  gathered  force  as 
the  centuries  went  on ;  and,  as  propaganda,  it  moved 
against  the  sun. 

This  development  theory  ran  along  the  line  of  per* 
Bonification.  Not  being  satisfied  with  "the  wheel  of  the 
law,"  it  personified  both  the  hub  and  the  spokes.  It 
began  with  the  spirit  of  kindness  out  of  which  all  hu- 
man virtues  rise,  and  by  the  power  of  which  the 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        169 

Buddhist  organization  will  conquer  all  sin  and  unbelief 
and  become  victorious  throughout  the  world.  This 
personification  is  called  the  Maitreya  Buddha,  the  un- 
conquerable one,  or  the  future  Buddha  of  benevolence, 
the  Buddha  who  is  yet  to  come.  Here  was  a  tremen- 
dous and  revolutionary  movement  in  the  new  faith,  the 
beginning  of  a  long  process.  It  was  as  though  the 
Christians  had  taken  the  particular  attributes,  justice, 
mercy,  etc.,  of  God  and,  after  personifying  each  one, 
deified  it,  thus  multiplying  gods. 

What  was  the  soil  for  the  new  sowing,  and  what  was 
the  harvest  to  be  reaped  in  due  time  ? 

With  many  thousands  of  India  Buddhists  whose 
minds  were  already  steeped  in  Brahministic  philosophy 
and  mythology,  who  were  more  given  to  speculation 
and  dreaming  than  to  self-control  and  moral  culture, 
and  who  mourned  for  the  dead  gods  of  Hinduism,  the 
soil  was  already  prepared  for  a  growth  wholly  ab- 
normal to  true  Buddhism,  but  altogether  in  keeping 
with  the  older  Brahministic  philosophies  from  which 
these  dreamers  had  been  but  partially  converted  to 
Buddhism.18 

The  seed  is  found  in  the  doctrine  which  already 
forms  part  of  the  system  of  the  Little  Vehicle,  when  it 
tells  of  the  personal  Buddhas  and  the  Buddhas  elect, 
or  future  Buddhas.  In  the  Jataka  stories,  or  Birth 
tales,  "  the  Buddha  elect "  is  the  title  given  to  each  of 
the  beings,  man,  angel,  or  animal,  who  is  held  to  be  a 
Bodhisattva,  or  the  future  Buddha  in  one  of  his  former 
births.  The  title  Bodhisattva  19  is  the  name  given  to  a 
being  whose  Karma  will  produce  other  beings  in  a  con- 
tinually ascending  scale  of  goodness  until  it  becomes 
vested  in  a  Buddha.  Or,  in  the  more  common  use  of 


170  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  word,  a  Bodhisattva  (Japanese  bosatsu)  is  a  being 
whose  essence  has  become  intelligence,  and  who  will 
have  to  pass  through  human  existence  once  more  only 
before  entering  Nirvana. 

In  Southern  Buddhist  temples,  the  pure  white  image 
of  Maitreya  is  sometimes  found  beside  the  idol  repre- 
senting Gautama  or  the  historical  Buddha.  While  in 
Southern  Buddhism  the  idea  of  this  possibility  of  de- 
velopment seems  to  have  been  little  seized  upon  and 
followed  up,  in  Northern  Buddhism  as  early  as  400 
A.D.  the  worship  of  two  Buddhas  elect  named  Manjusri 
and  Avalokitesvara,  or  personified  Wisdom  and  Power, 
had  already  become  general.  Manjusri,20  the  Great 
Being  or  "  Prince  Koyal,"  is  the  personification  of  wis- 
dom, and  especially  of  the  mystic  religious  insight 
which  has  produced  the  Great  Vehicle  or  canon  of 
Northern  Buddhism  ;  or,  as  a  Japanese  author  says, 
the  third  collection  of  the  Tripitaka  was  that  made  by 
Manjusri  and  Maitreya.  Avalokitesvara,21  the  Lord  of 
Yiew  or  All-sided  One,  is  the  personification  of  power, 
the  merciful  protector  and  preserver  of  the  world  and 
of  men.  Both  are  frequently  and  voluminously  men- 
tioned in  the  Saddharma  Pundarika,22  in  which  the 
good  law  is  made  plain  by  flowers  of  rhetoric,  and  of 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  frequently  to  speak. 
Manjusri  is  the  mythical  author  of  this  influential 
work,23  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  being  devoted  to  a 
glorification  of  the  character,  the  power,  and  the  ad- 
vantages to  be  derived  from  the  worship  of  Avalokites- 
vara. 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         171 


The  Creation  of  Gods. 

Possibly  the  name  of  Manjusri  may  be  derived  from 
that  of  the  Indian  mendicant,  the  traditional  introducer 
of  Buddhism  and  its  accompanying  civilization  into 
Nepal.  The  Tibetans  identify  him  with  the  minister 
of  a  great  King  Strongstun,  who  lived  in  the  seventh 
century  of  our  era  and  who  was  the  great  patron  of 
Buddhism  into  Tibet.  He  is  the  founder  of  that  school 
of  thought  which  ended  in  the  Great  Vehicle,  —  the 
literature  of  Northern  Buddhism.24  From  Nepal  to 
Japan,  in  the  books  of  the  Northern  Buddhists  there  is 
certainly  much  confusion  between  the  metaphysical 
being  and  the  legendary  civilizer  and  teacher  of  Nepal. 
The  other  name,  Avalokitesvara,  which  means  the  Lord 
of  View,  "  the  lord  who  looks  down  from  on  high,"  in- 
stead of  being  a  purely  metaphysical  invention,  may  be 
only  an  adaptation  of  one  epithet  of  Shiva,  which  meant 
Master  of  Yiew. 

Later  and  by  degrees  the  attributes  were  separated 
and  each  one  was  personified.  For  example,  the  power 
of  Avalokitesvara  was  separated  from  his  protecting 
care  and  providence.  His  power  was  personified  as 
the  bearer  of  the  thunder-bolt,  or  the  lightning-handed 
one ;  and  this  new  personification  added  to  the  two 
other  Buddhas  elect,  made  a  triad,  the  first  in  Northern 
Buddhism.  In  this  triad,  the  thunder-bolt  holder  was 
Vagrapani ;  Manjusri  was  the  deified  teacher ;  and  Ava- 
lokitesvara was  the  Spirit  of  the  Buddhas  present  in 
the  church.  Before  many  centuries  had  elapsed,  these 
imaginary  beings,  with  a  few  others,  had  become  gods 
to  whom  men  prayed ;  and  thus  Buddhism  became  a 


172  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

religion  with  some  kind  of  theism, — which  Gautama 
had  expressly  renounced. 

If  any  one  wants  proof  of  this  reversion  into  the  old 
religions  of  India,  he  has  only  to  notice  that  the  name, 
given  to  the  new  god  made  by  personification  of  the 
attribute  of  power,  Yagrapani,  or  Yadjradhara,  or  the 
bearer  of  the  thunder-bolt,  had  formerly  been  used  as 
an  epithet  of  the  old  fire-god  of  the  Yedas,  Indra. 

It  were  tedious  to  recount  all  the  steps  in  the  further 
development  of  Northern  Buddhism.23  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  out  of  ideas  and  principles  set  forth  in  the  earlier 
Buddhism,  and  under  the  generating  force  reborn  from 
old  Brahminism,  the  Dhyani  Buddhas  (that  is  the 
Buddhas  evolved  out  of  the  mind  in  mystic  trance) 
were  given  their  elect  Buddhas ;  and  so  three  sets  of  five 
were  co-ordinated.26  That  is,  first,  five  pre-penultimate 
Buddhas;  then  their  Bodhisattvas  or  penultimate 
Buddhas ;  and  then  the  ultimate  or  human  Buddhas, 
of  which  Gautama  was  one.  Or,  first  abstraction ;  then 
pre-human  effluence  ;  then  emanation. 

All  this  multiplication  of  beings  is  unknown  to 
Southern  Buddhism,  unknown  to  the  Saddharma  Pun- 
darika,  and  very  probably  unknown  also  to  the  Chinese 
pilgrims  who  visited  India  in  the  fifth  and  seventh  cen- 
turies. Professor  Ehys  Davids,  in  his  compact  little 
manual  of  Buddhism,  says :  ^ 

"  Among  those  hypothetical  beings — the  creations  of  a  sickly 
scholasticism,  hollow  abstractions  without  life  or  reality — the 
fourth  Amitabha,  '  Immeasurable  Light,'  whose  Bodhisatwa  is 
Avalokitesvara,  and  whose  emanation  is  Gautama,  occupies  of 
course  the  highest  and  most  important  rank.  Surrounded  by 
innumerable  Bodhisatwas,  he  sits  enthroned  under  a  Bo-tree  in 
Sukhavati,  i.e.,  the  Blissful,  a  paradise  of  heavenly  joys,  whose 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         173 

description  occupies  whole  tedious  books  of  the  so-called  Great 
Vehicle.  By  this  theory,  each  of  the  five  Buddhas  has  become 
three,  and  the  fourth  of  these  five  sets  of  three  is  the  second 
Buddhist  Trinity,  the  belief  in  which  must  have  arisen  after 
the  seventh  century  of  our  era." 

Buddhism  has  been  called  the  light  of  Asia,  and 
Gautama  its  illuminator;  but  certainly  the  light  has 
not  been  pure,  nor  the  products  of  its  illumination 
wholesome.  Pardon  an  illustration.  In  Christian 
churches  and  cathedrals  of  Europe,  there  is  still  a 
great  prejudice  against  the  use  of  pipes,  and  of  gas 
made  from  coal,  because  of  the  machinery  and  of  the 
impure  emanations.  The  prejudice  is  a  wholesome 
one ;  for  we  all  know  that  most  of  the  elements  form- 
ing common  illuminating  gas  are  worthless  except 
to  convey  the  very  small  amount  of  light-giving  ma- 
terial, and  that  these  elements  in  combustion  vitiate 
the  air  and  give  off  deleterious  products  which  cor- 
rode, tarnish  and  destroy.  Now  though  Buddhist  doc- 
trine may  have  been  the  light  of  India,  yet  to  reach 
the  Northern  and  Eastern  nations  of  Asia  it  had,  ap- 
parently, to  be  adulterated  for  conveyance,  as  much  as 
is  the  illuminating  gas  in  our  cities.  From  the  first, 
Northern  Buddhism  showed  a  wonderful  affinity,  not 
only  for  Brahministic  superstitions  and  speculations, 
but  for  almost  everything  else  with  which  it  came  in 
contact  in  countries  beyond  India.  Instead  of  combat- 
ing, it  absorbed.  It  adapted  itself  to  circumstances, 
and  finding  certain  beliefs  prevalent  among  the  people, 
it  imbibed  them,  and  thus  gained  by  accretion  until  its 
bulk,  both  of  beliefs  and  of  disciples,  was  in  the  inverse 
ratio  of  its  purity.  Even  to-day,  the  occult  theosophy 
of  "  Isis  Unveiled,"  and  of  the  school  of  writers  such 


174  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

as  Blavatsky,  Olcott,  etc.,  seems  to  be  a  perfectly 
logical  product  of  the  Northern  Buddhisms,  and  may 
be  called  one  of  them ;  yet  it  is  simply  a  repetition  of 
what  took  place  centuries  ago.  Most  of  the  primitive 
beliefs  and  superstitions  of  Nepal  and  Tibet  were  ab- 
sorbed in  the  ever  hungry  and  devouring  system  of 
Buddhistic  scholasticism. 


The  Making  of  a  Pantheon. 

Let  us  glance  again  at  this  Nepal  Buddhism.  In 
the  tenth  century  we  find  what  at  first  seems  to  be  a 
growth  out  of  Polytheism  into  Monotheism,  for  a  new 
Being,  to  whom  the  attributes  of  infinity,  self-exist- 
ence and  omniscience  are  ascribed,  is  invented  and 
named  Adi-Buddha,  or  the  primordial  Buddha.  Ac- 
cording to  the  speculations  of  the  thinkers,  he  had 
evolved  himself  out  of  the  five  Dhyani-Buddhas  by  the 
exercise  of  the  five  meditations,  while  each  of  these 
had  evolved  out  of  itself  by  wisdom  and  contemplation, 
the  corresponding  Buddhas  elect.  Again,  each  of  the 
latter  evolved  out  of  his  own  essence  a  material  world, 
— our  present  world  being  the  fourth  of  these,  that  is  of 
Avaloki.  One  almost  might  consider  that  this  setting 
forth  of  the  primordial  Buddha  was  real  Monotheism ; 
but  on  looking  more  carefully  one  sees  that  it  is  as 
little  real  Monotheism  as  was  possible  in  the  system 
of  Gnosticism.  Indeed  the  force  of  evolution  could 
not  stop  here  ;  for,  since  even  this  primordial  Buddha 
rested  upon  Ossa  of  hypothesis  piled  upon  Pelion  of  hy- 
pothesis, there  must  be  other  hypotheses  yet  to  come, 
and  so  the  Tantra  system,  a  compound  of  old  Brahmin- 
ism  with  the  magic  and  witchcraft  and  Shamanism  of 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        175 

Northern  Asia  burst  into  view.  As  this  was  to  travel 
into  Japan  and  be  hailed  as  purest  Buddhism,  let  us 
note  how  this  tenth  century  Tantra  system  grew  up. 
To  see  this  clearly,  is  to  look  upon  the  parable  of  the 
man  wi.li  the  unclean  spirit  being  acted  out  on  a  vast 
scale  in  history. 

In  the  sixth  century  of  our  era,  one  Asanga,  or 
Asamga,  wrote  the  Shastra,  called  the  Shastra  Yoga- 
chara  Bhuini.28  With  great  dexterity  he  erected  a  sort 
of  clearing-house  for  both  the  corrupt  Brahminism  and 
corrupt  Buddhism  of  his  day,  and  exchanging  and  re- 
arranging the  gods  and  devils  in  both  systems,  he 
represented  them  as  worshippers  and  supporters  of 
the  Buddha  and  Avalokitesvara.  In  such  a  system, 
the  old  primitive  Buddhism  of  the  noble  eight-fold 
path  of  self-conquest  and  pure  morals  was  utterly  lost. 
Instead  of  that,  the  worshipper  gave  his  whole  pow- 
ers to  obtaining  occult  potencies  by  means  of  magic 
phrases  and  magic  circles.  Then  grew  up  whole  for- 
ests of  monasteries  and  temples,  with  an  outburst  of 
devilish  art  representing  many-headed  and  many-eyed 
and  many -handed  idols  on  the  walls,  on  books,  on  the 
roadside,  with  manifold  charms  and  phrases  the  endless 
repetitions  of  which  Avere  supposed  to  have  efficacy  with 
the  hypothetical  being  who  filled  the  heavens.  That  was 
the  age  of  idols  for  China  as  well  as  for  India ;  and  the 
old  Chinese  house,  once  empty,  swept  and  garnished 
by  Confucianism,  was  now  filled  with  a  mob  of  unclean 
spirits  each  worse  than  the  first.  With  more  coura- 
geous logic  than  the  more  matter-of-fact  Chinese,  the 
Tibetan  erected  his  prayer-mills29  and  let  the  winds 
of  heaven  and  the  flowing  waters  continually  multiply 
his  prayers  and  holy  syllables.  And  these  inventions 


176  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

were  duly  imported  into  Japan,  and  even  now  are  far 
from  being  absent.30 

Passing  over  for  the  present  the  history  of  Buddh- 
ism in  China,31  suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Buddhism 
which  entered  Japan  from  Korea  in  the  sixth  century, 
was  not  the  simple  atheism  touched  with  morality,  the 
bald  skepticism  or  benevolent  agnosticism  of  Gautama, 
but  a  religion  already  over  a  thousand  years  old.  It  was 
the  system  of  the  Northern  Buddhists.  These,  dissat- 
isfied, or  unsatisfied,  with  absorption  into  a  passionless 
state  through  self-sacrifice  and  moral  discipline,  had 
evolved  a  philosophy  of  religion  in  which  were  gods, 
idols  and  an  apparatus  of  conversion  utterly  unknown 
to  the  primitive  faith. 

Buddhism  Already  Corrupted  when  brought  to  Japan. 

This  sixth  century  Buddhism  in  Japan  was  not  the 
army  with  banners,  which  was  introduced  still  later 
with  the  luxuriances  of  the  fully  developed  system, 
its  paradise  wonderfully  like  Mohammed's  and  its  over- 
populated  pantheon.  It  was,  however,  ready  with  the 
necessary  machinery,  both  material  and  mental,  to  make 
conquest  of  a  people  which  had  not  only  religious 
aspirations,  but  also  latent  aesthetic  possibilities  of  a 
high  order.  As  in  its  course  through  China  this 
Northern  Buddhism  had  acted  as  an  all-powerful  ab- 
sorbent of  local  beliefs  and  superstitions,  so  in  Japan  it 
was  destined  to  make  a  more  remarkable  record,  and, 
not  only  to  absorb  local  ideas  but  actually  to  cause  the 
indigenous  religion  to  disappear. 

Let  us  inquire  who  were  the  people  to  whom  Buddh- 
ism, when  already  possessed  of  a  millenium  of  history, 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        177 

entered  its  Ultima  Thule  in  Eastern  Asia.  At  what 
stage  of  mutual  growth  did  Buddhism  and  the  Japan- 
ese meet  each  other  ? 

Instead  of  the  forty  millions  of  thoroughly  homogen- 
eous people  in  Japan — according  to  the  census  of  De- 
cember 31,  1892 — all  being  loyal  subjects  of  one  Em- 
peror, we  must  think  of  possibly  a  million  of  hunters, 
fishermen  and  farmers  in  more  or  less  warring  clans  or 
tribes.  These  were  made  up  of  the  various  migrations 
from  the  main  land  and  the  drift  of  humanity  brought 
by  the  ocean  currents  from  the  south ;  Ainos,  Koreans, 
Tartars  and  Chinese,  with  probably  some  Malay  and 
Nigrito  stock.  In  the  central  part  of  Hondo,  the  main 
island,  the  Yamato  tribe  dominated,  its  chief  being 
styled  Sumeru-mikoto,  or  Mikado.  To  the  south  and 
southwest,  the  Mikado's  power  was  only  more  or  less 
felt,  for  the  Yamato  men  had  a  long  struggle  in  secur- 
ing supremacy.  Northward  and  eastward  lay  great 
stretches  of  land,  inhabited  by  unsubdued  and  uncivil- 
ized native  tribes  of  continental  and  most  probably  of 
Korean  origin,  and  thus  more  or  less  closely  akin  to 
the  Yamato  men.  Still  northward  roamed  the  Ainos,  a 
race  whose  ancestral  seats  may  have  "been  in  far-off 
Dravidian  India.  Despite  the  constant  conflicts  be- 
tween the  Yamato  people  who  had  agriculture  and  the 
beginnings  of  government,  law  and  literature,  and  their 
less  civilized  neighbors,  the  tendency  to  amalgamation 
was  already  strong.  The  problem  of  the  statesman, 
was  to  extend  the  sway  of  the  Mikado  over  the  whole 
Archipelago. 

Shinto  was,  in  its  formation,  made  use  of  as  an  en- 
gine to  conquer,  unify  and  civilize  all  the  tribes.  In 
one  sense,  this  conquest  of  men  having  lower  forms  of 
12 


178  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

faith,  by  believers  in  the  Kami  no  Michi,  or  Way  of  the 
Gods,  was  analogous  to  the  Aryan  conquest  of  India 
and  the  Dravidians.  However  this  may  be,  the  energy 
and  valor  displayed  in  these  early  ages  formed  the  ideal 
of  Yamato  Damashii  (The  Spirit  of  unconquerable 
Japan),  which  has  so  powerfully  influenced  the  mod- 
ern Japanese.  We  shall  see,  also,  how  grandly  Buddh- 
ism also  came  to  be  a  powerful  force  in  the  unifica- 
tion of  the  Japanese  people.  At  first,  the  new  faith 
would  be  rejected  as  an  alien  invader,  stigmatized  as  a 
foreign  religion,  and,  as  such,  sure  to  invoke  the  wrath 
of  the  native  gods.  Then  later,  its  superiority  to  the 
indigenous  cult  would  be  seen  both  by  the  wise  and 
the  practically  minded,  and  it  would  be  welcomed  and 
enjoyed. 

The  Inviting  Field. 

Never  had  a  new  religion  a  more  inviting  field  or 
one  more  sure  of  success,  than  had  Buddhism  on  step- 
ping from  the  Land  of  Morning  Dawn  to  the  Laud  of 
the  Rising  Sun.  Coming  as  a  gorgeous,  dazzling  and 
disciplined  array  of  all  that  could  touch  the  imagina- 
tion, stimulate  the  intellect  and  move  the  heart  of  the 
Japanese,  it  was  irresistible.  For  the  making  of  a 
nation,  Shinto  was  as  a  donkey  engine,  compared  to 
the  system  of  furnaces,  boilers,  shaft  and  propeller  of 
a  ten -thousand-ton  steel  cruiser,  moved  by  the  energies 
of  a  million  years  of  sunbeam  force  condensed  into 
coal  and  released  again  through  transmigration  by  fire. 

All  accounts  in  the  vernacular  Japanese  agree,  that 
their  Butsu-do  or  Buddhism  was  imported  from 
Korea.  In  the  sixteenth  year  of  Keitai,  the  twenty- 


TEE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        179 

seventh  Mikado  (of  the  list  made  centuries  after,  and 
the  eleventh  after  the  impossible  line  of  the  long-lived 
or  mythical  Mikados),  A.D.  534,  it  is  said  that  a  man 
from  China  brought  with  him  an  image  of  Buddha  in- 
to Yamato,  and  setting  it  up  in  a  thatched  cottage  wor- 
shipped it.  The  people  called  it  "foreign-country 
god."  Visitors  discussed  with  him  the  religion  of  Sha- 
ka,  as  the  Japanese  call  Shakyamuni,  and  some  little 
knowledge  of  Buddhism  was  gained,  but  no  notable 
progress  was  made  until  A.D.  552,  which  is  generally 
accepted  and  celebrated  as  the  year  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  faith  into  Japan.  Then  a  king  of  Hiaksai 
in  Korea,  sent  over  to  the  court  and  to  the  Mikado 
golden  images  of  the  Buddha  and  of  the  triad  of 
"precious  ones,"  with  Sutras  and  sacred  books.  These 
holy  relics  are  believed  to  be  still  preserved  in  the 
famous  temple  of  Zenkoji,32  belonging  to  the  temple  of 
the  Tendai  Sect  at  Nagano  in  Northern  Japan,  this 
shrine  being  dedicated  to  Amida  and  his  two  followers 
Kwannon  (Avalokitesvara)  and  Dai-sei-shi  (Mahastana- 
prapta).  This  group  of  idols,  as  the  custodian  of  the 
shrine  will  tell  you,  was  made  by  Shaka  himself  out  of 
gold,  found  at  the  base  of  the  tree  which  grows  at  the 
centre  of  the  universe.  After  remaining  in  Korea  for 
eleven  hundred  and  twelve  years,  it  was  brought  to 
Japan.  Mighty  is  the  stream  of  pilgrims  which  con- 
tinually sets  toward  the  holy  place.  A  common  prov- 
erb declares  that  even  a  cow  can  find  her  way  thither. 
In  A.D.  572  and  again  in  584,  new  images,  sutras  and 
teachers  came  over  from  another  part  of  Korea.  The 
Mikado  called  a  council  to  determine  what  should  be 
done  with  the  idols,  to  the  worship  of  which  he  was 
himself  inclined ;  but  a  majority  were  against  the 


180  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

idea  of  insulting  the  native  gods  by  receiving  the  pres- 
ents and  thus  introducing  a  foreign  religion.  The  min- 
ister of  state,  however,  one  Soga  no  Iname,  expressed 
himself  in  favor  of  Buddhism,  and  put  the  images  in 
his  country  house  which  he  converted  into  a  temple. 
When,  soon  after,  the  land  was  afflicted  with  a  pesti- 
lence, the  opponents  of  the  new  faith  attributed  it  to 
the  wrath  of  the  gods  at  the  hospitality  given  to  the 
new  idols.  War  broke  out,  fighting  took  place,  and  the 
Buddhist  temple  was  burned  and  the  idols  thrown  into 
the  river,  near  Osaka.  Great  portents  followed,  and 
the  enemies  of  Buddhism  were,  it  is  said,  burned  up 
by  flames  descending  from  heaven. 

The  tide  then  turned  in  favor  of  the  Indian  faith,  and 
Soga  rebuilt  his  temple.  Priests  and  missionaries 
were  invited  to  come  over  from  Korea,  being  gladly 
furnished  by  the  allies  of  Japan  from  the  state  of 
Shinra,  and  Buddhism  again  flourished  at  the  court, 
but  not  yet  among  the  people.  Once  more,  fighting 
broke  out ;  and  again  the  temple  of  the  alien  gods  was 
destroyed,  only  to  be  rebuilt  again.  The  chief  cham- 
pion of  Buddhism  was  the  son  of  a  Mikado,  best  known 
by  his  posthumous  title,  Shotoku,33  who  all  his  life  was 
a  vigorous  defender  and  propagator  of  the  new  faith. 
Through  his  influence,  or  very  probably  through  the 
efforts  of  the  Korean  missionaries,  the  devastating  war 
between  the  Japanese  and  Koreans  was  ended.  In 
the  peace  which  followed,  notable  progress  was  made 
through  the  vigor  of  the  missionaries  encouraged  by 
the  regent  Shotoku,  so  that  at  his  death  in  the  year 
A.D.  621,  there  were  forty-six  temples,  and  thirteen  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  priests,  monks  and  nuns  in  Japan. 
Many  of  the  most  famous  temples,  which  are  now 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         181 

full  of  wealth  and  renown,  trace  their  foundations  to 
this  era  of  Shotoku  and  of  his  aunt,  the  Empress  Suiko 
(A.D.  593-628),  who  were  friendly  to  the  new  religion. 
Shotoku  may  be  almost  called  the  founder  of  Japanese 
Buddhism.  Although  a  layman,  he  is  canonized  and 
stands  unique  in  the  Pantheon  of  Eastern  Buddhism, 
his  image  being  prominently  visible  in  thousands  of 
Japanese  temples. 

Legend,  in  no  country  more  luxurious  than  in  Japan, 
tells  us  that  the  exotic  religion  made  no  progress  until 
Amida,  the  boundlessly  Merciful  One,  assuming  the 
shape  of  a  concubine  of  the  imperial  prince  who  after- 
ward became  the  Mikado  Yome,  gave  birth  to  Sho- 
toku, who  was  himself  Kwannon  or  the  goddess  of 
mercy  in  human  form ;  and  that  when  he  grew  up,  he 
took  to  wife  an  incarnation  of  the  Buddha  elect,  Mahas- 
tana-prapta,  or  in  Japanese  Dai-sei-shi,  whose  idol  is 
honored  at  Zenkoji. 

The  New  Faith  Becomes  Popular. 

Then  Buddhism  became  popular,  passing  out  from 
the  narrow  circle  of  the  court  to  be  welcomed  by  the 
people.  In  A.D.  623,  monks  came  over  directly  from 
China,  and  we  find  mentioned  two  sects,  the  Sanron 
and  the  Jojitsu,  which  are  no  longer  extant  in  Japan. 
In  about  A.D.  650  the  fame  of  Yuan  Chang  (Hiouen 
Thsang)  the  Chinese  pilgrim  to  India,  or  the  holy 
land,  reached  Japan ;  and  his  illustrious  example  was 
enthusiastically  followed.  History  now  frequently  re- 
peated itself.  The  Japanese  monk,  Dosho,  crossed  the 
seas  to  China  to  gaze  upon  the  face  and  become  the 
pupil  of  that  illustrious  Chinese  pilgrim,  who  had  seen 


1S2  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Buddha  Land.  Later  on,  other  monks  crossed  over 
to  the  land  of  Sinim,  until  we  find  that  in  this  and 
succeeding  centuries,  hundreds  of  Japanese  in  their 
frail  junks,  brayed  the  dangers  of  the  stormy  ocean,  in 
order  to  study  Sanskrit,  to  read  the  old  scriptures,  to 
meet  the  new  lights  of  learning  or  revelation,  and  to 
become  versed  in  the  latest  fashions  of  religion.  We 
find  the  pilgrims  returning  and  founding  new  sects  or 
sub-sects,  and  stimulating  by  their  enthusiasm  the 
monks  and  the  home  missionaries.  In  the  year  A.D. 
700  the  custom  of  cremation  was  introduced.  This 
wrought  not  only  a  profound  change  in  customs,  but 
also  became  the  seed  of  a  rich  crop  of  superstitions ; 
since  out  of  the  cremated  bodies  of  the  saints  came 
forth  the  shari  or,  in  Sanskrit,  sarira.  These  hard 
substances  or  pellets,  preserved  in  crystal  cabinets,  are 
treated  as  holy  gems  or  relics.  Thus  venerated,  they 
become  the  nuclei  of  cycles  of  fairy  lore. 

In  A.D.  710,  the  great  monastery  at  Nara  was 
founded ;  and  here  we  must  notice  or  at  least  glance 
at  the  great  throng  of  civilizing  influences  that  came 
in  with  Buddhism,  and  at  the  great  army  of  artists, 
artisans  and  skilled  men  and  women  of  every  sort  of 
trade  and  craft.  We  note  that  with  the  building  of 
this  great  Nara  monastery  came  another  proof  of  im- 
provement and  the  added  element  of  stability  in  Japan- 
ese civilization.  The  ancient  dread  which  the  Japanese 
had,  of  living  in  any  place  where  a  person  had  died  was 
passing  away.  The  nomad  life  was  being  given  up. 
The  successor  of  a  dead  Mikado  was  no  longer  com- 
pelled to  build  himself  a  new  capital.  The  traveller 
in  Japan,  familiar  with  the  ancient  poetry  of  the 
Manyo-shu,  finds  no  fewer  than  fifty-eight  sites34  as 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         183 

the  early  homes  of  the  Japanese  monarchy.  Once  oc- 
cupying the  proud  position  of  imperial  capitals,  they 
are  now  for  the  most  part  mere  hamlets,  oftentimes 
mere  names,  with  no  visible  indication  of  former  hu- 
man habitation ;  while  the  old  rivers  or  streams  once 
gay  with  barges  filled  with  silken-robed  lords  and  la- 
dies, have  dried  up  to  mere  washerwomen's  runnels. 
For  the  first  time  after  the  building  of  this  Buddhist 
monastery,  the  capital  remained  permanent,  Nara  be- 
ing the  imperial  residence  during  seventy-five  years. 
Then  beautiful  Kioto  was  chosen,  and  remained  the 
residence  of  successive  generations  of  emperors  until 
1868.  In  A.D.  735,  we  read  of  the  Kegon  sect.  Two 
years  later  a  large  monastery,  with  a  seven-storied  pa- 
goda alongside  of  it,  was  ordered  to  be  built  in  every 
province.  These,  with  the  temples  and  their  surround- 
ings, and  with  the  wayside  shrines  beginning  to  spring 
up  like  exotic  flowers,  made  a  striking  alteration  in  the 
landscape  of  Japan.  The  Buddhist  scriptures  were 
numerously  copied  and  circulated  among  the  learned 
class,  yet  neither  now  nor  ever,  except  here  and  there 
in  fragments,  were  they  found  among  the  people.  For, 
although  the  Buddhist  canon  has  been  repeatedly  im- 
ported, copied  by  the  pen  and  in  modern  times  printed, 
yet  no  Japanese  translation  has  ever  been  made.  The 
methods  of  Buddhism  in  regard  to  the  circulation  of 
the  scriptures  are  those,  not  of  Protestantism  but  of 
Roman  Catholicism. 

In  the  same  year,  the  Mikado  called  for  contribu- 
tions from  all  the  people  for  the  building  of  a  colossal 
image  of  the  Buddha,  which  was  to  be  of  bronze  and 
gilded.  Yet,  fearing  that  the  Shinto  gods  might  be 
offended,  a  skilful  priest  named  Giyoku,  —  probably 


184:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  same  man  who  introduced  the  potter's  wheel  into 
Japan, — was  sent  to  the  shrine  of  the  Sun-goddess  in 
Ise  to  present  her  with  a  shari  or  relic  of  the  Buddha, 
and  find  out  how  she  would  regard  his  project. 
After  seven  days  and  nights  of  waiting,  the  chapel 
doors  flew  open  and  the  loud-voiced  oracle  was  inter- 
preted in  a  favorable  sense.  The  night  following  the 
return  of  the  priest,  the  Mikado  dreamed  that  the  sun- 
goddess  appeared  to  him  in  her  own  form  and  said 
"The  sun  is  Birushana"  (Vairokana).  This  meant 
that  the  chief  deity  of  the  Japanese  proclaimed  herself 
an  avatar  or  incarnation  of  one  of  the  old  Hindu  gods.35 
She  also  approved  the  project  of  the  image ;  and  in 
this  same  year,  759,  native  gold  was  found  in  Japan, 
which  sufficed  for  the  gilding  of  the  great  idol  that, 
after  eleven  hundred  years  and  many  vicissitudes,  still 
stands,  the  glory  of  a  multitude  of  pilgrims. 

In  A.D.  754  a  famous  priest,  who  introduced  the  new 
Ritsu  Sect,  was  able  to  convert  the  Mikado  and  obtain 
four  hundred  converts  in  the  imperial  court.  Thirteen 
years  later,  another  tremendous  triumph  of  Buddhism 
was  scored  and  a  deadly  blow  at  Shinto  was  struck. 
The  Buddhist  priests  persuaded  the  Mikados  to  aban- 
don their  ancient  title  of  Sumeru  and  adopt  that  of 
Tenno  (Heavenly  King  or  Tenshi)  Son  of  Heaven, 
after  the  Chinese  fashion.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
taught  that  the  emperor  could  gain  great  merit  and 
sooner  become  a  Buddha,  by  retiring  from  the  active 
cares  of  the  throne  and  becoming  a  monk,  with  the 
title  of  Ho-6,  or  Cloistered  Emperor.  This  innovation 
had  far-reaching  consequences,  profoundly  altering  the 
status  of  the  Mikado,  giving  sensualism  on  the  one 
hand  and  priestcraft  on  the  other,  their  coveted  op- 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA        185 

portunity,  changing  the  ruler  of  the  nation  from  an  ac- 
tive statesman  into  a  recluse  and  the  recluse  into  a  pious 
monk,  or  a  licentious  devotee,  as  the  case  might  be. 
It  paved  the  way  for  the  usurpation  of  the  government 
by  the  unscrupulous  soldier,  "  the  man  on  horseback," 
who  was  destined  to  rule  Japan  for  seven  hundred 
years,  while  the  throne  and  its  occupant  were  in  the 
shadow.  One  of  a  thousand  proofs  of  the  progress  of 
the  propaganda  scheme  is  seen  in  the  removal  of  the 
Shinto  temple  which  had  stood  at  Nikko,  and  the  erec- 
tion in  its  place  of  a  Buddhist  temple.  In  A.D.  805  the 
famous  Tendai,  and  in  806  the  powerful  Shingon  Sect 
were  introduced.  All  was  now  ready  in  -Japan  for  the 
growth  not  only  of  one  new  Buddhism,  but  of  several 
varieties  among  the  Northern  Buddhisms  which  so 
arouse  the  astonishment  of  those  who  study  the  simple 
Pali  scriptures  that  contain  the  story  of  Gautama,  and 
who  know  only  the  southern  phase  of  the  faith,  that 
is  to  Asia,  relatively,  what  Christianity  is  to  Europe. 
We  say  relatively,  for  while  Buddhism  made  Chinese 
Asia  gentle  in  manners  and  kind  to  animals,  it  covered 
the  land  with  temples,  monasteries  and  images;  on 
the  other  hand  the  religion  of  Jesus  filled  Europe  not 
only  with  churches,  abbeys,  monasteries  and  nunner- 
ies, but  also  with  hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  light- 
houses, schools  and  colleges.  Between  the  fruits  of 
Christendom  and  Buddhadom,  let  the  world  judge. 

Survey  and  Summary. 

To  sum  up :  Buddhism  is  the  humanitarian's,  and 
also  the  skeptic's,  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  uni- 
verse. Its  three  great  distinguishing  characteristics  are 


180  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

atheism,  metempsychosis  and  absence  of  caste.  It  was 
in  its  origin  pure  democracy.  As  against  despotic  priest- 
hood and  oppressive  hierarchy,  it  was  congregational. 
Theoretically  it  is  so  yet,  though  far  from  being  so  prac- 
tically. It  is  certainly  sacerdotal  and  aristocratic  in  or- 
ganization. As  in  any  other  system  which  has  so  vast 
a  hierarchy  with  so  many  grades  of  honor  and  author- 
ity, its  theory  of  democracy  is  now  a  memory.  First 
preached  in  a  land  accursed  by  caste  and  under  spirit- 
ual and  secular  oppressions,  it  acknowledged  no  caste, 
but  declared  all  men  equally  sinful  and  miserable,  and 
all  equally  capable  of  being  freed  from  sin  and  misery 
through  Buddhahood,  that  is,  knowledge  or  enlighten- 
ment.86 

The  three-fold  principle  laid  down  by  Gautama, 
and  now  in  dogma,  literature,  art  and  worship,  a 
triad  or  formal  trinity,  is,  Buddha,  the  attainment  of 
Buddha-hood,  or  perfect  enlightenment,  through  medi- 
tation and  benevolence ;  Karma,  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect ;  and  Dharma,  discipline  or  order ;  or,  the 
Lord,  the  Law  and  the  Church.  Paying  no  attention 
to  questions  of  cosmogony  or  theogony,  the  universe 
is  accepted  as  an  ultimate  fact.  Matter  is  eternal. 
Creation  exists  but  not  a  Creator.  All  is  god,  but  God 
is  left  out  of  consideration.  The  gods  are  even  less 
than  Buddhas.  Humanity  is  glorified  and  the  stress  of 
all  teaching  is  upon  this  life.  In  a  word :  a  sinless  life, 
attainable  by  man,  through  his  own  exertions  in  this 
world,  above  all  the  powers  or  beings  of  the  universe, 
is  the  essence  of  original  Buddhism.  Original  Nirvana 
meant  death  which  ends  all,  extinction  of  existence. 

Gautama's  immediate  purpose  was  to  emancipate 
himself  and  his  followers  from  the  fetters  of  Brahmin- 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  NORTHERN  ASIA         187 

ism.  He  tried  to  leave  the  world  of  Hindu  philosophy 
behind  him  and  to  escape  from  it. 

Did  he  succeed  ?     Partially. 

Buddha  hoped  also  to  rise  above  the  superstitions  of 
the  common  people,  but  in  this  he  was  again  only  par- 
tially successful.37  "  The  clouds  returned  after  the 
rain."  The  old  dead  gods  of  Brahminism  came  back 
under  new  names  and  forms.  The  malarial  exhalations  of 
corrupt  Brahmanistic  philosophy,  continually  poisoned 
the  atmosphere  which  Buddha's  disciples  breathed. 
Still  worse,  as  his  religion  transmigrated  into  other 
lands,  it  became  itself  a  history  of  transformation,  until 
to-day  no  religion  on  earth  seems  to  be  such  a  kaleido- 
scopic phantasmagoria.  Polytheism  is  rampant  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  Buddhist  world  to-day.  In  the 
larger  portion  of  Chinese  Asia,  pantheism  dominates 
the  mind.  In  modern  Babism, — a  mixture  of  Moham- 
medanism, Christianity  and  Buddhism, — there  are 
streaks  of  dualism.  If  Monotheism  has  ever  dawned 
on  the  Buddhist  world,  it  has  been  in  fitful  pulses  as  in 
auroral  flashes,  soon  to  leave  darkness  darker. 

For  us  is  this  lessson :  Buddhism,  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  problem  of  the  world's  evil  and  possible 
improvement,  evades  it ;  begs  the  whole  question  at 
the  outset ;  prays  :  "  Deliver  us  from  existence.  Save 
us  from  life  and  give  us  as  little  as  possible  of  it." 
Christianity  faces  the  problem  and  flinches  not ;  orders 
advance  all  along  the  line  of  endeavor  and  prays  :  "  De- 
liver us  from  evil ; "  and  is  ever  of  good  cheer,  because 
Captain  and  leader  says  :  "I  have  overcome  the  world." 
Go,  win  it  for  me.  "I  have  come  that  they  might  have 
life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abundantly," 


KIYOBTJ,  OK  MIXED  BUDDHISM 


"  All  things  are  nothing  but  mind." 

"  The  doctrines  of  Buddhism  have  no  fixed  forms." 

u  There  is  nothing  in  things  themselves  that  enables  us  to  distinguish 
in  them  either  good  or  evil,  right  or  wrong.  It  is  but  man's  fancy  that 
weighs  their  merits  and  causes  him  to  choose  one  and  reject  the  other."' 

"Non-individuality  is  the  general  principle  of  Buddhism." — Outlines 
of  the  Mahayana. 

"It  (Shinto)  was  smothered  before  reaching  maturity,  but  Buddhism 
and  Confucianism  had  to  disguise  and  change  in  order  to  enter  Japan." 

"  Life  has  a  limited  span  and  naught  may  avail  to  extend  it.  This  is 
manifested  by  the  impermanence  of  human  beings.  But  yet  whenever 
necessary  I  will  hereafter  make  my  appearance  from  time  to  time  as  a  god, 
a  sage,  or  a  Buddha." — Last  words  of  Shaka  the  Buddha,  in  Japanese 
biography. 

41  It  is  our  opinion  that  Buddhism  cannot  long  hold  its  ground,  and  that 
Christianity  must  finally  prevail  throughout  all  Japan.  .  .  .  Now,  when 
Buddhism  and  Christianity  are  in  conflict  for  the  ascendency,  this  indiffer- 
ence of  the  Japanese  people  to  the  difference  of  sects  is  a  great  disadvant- 
age to  Buddhism.  That  they  should  worship  Jesus  Christ  with  the  same 
mind  as  they  do  Inari  or  Miojin  is  not  at  all  inconsistent  in  their  estima- 
tion or  contrary  to  their  custom." — Fukuzawa,  of  Tokio. 

"  How  long  halt  ye  between  two  opinions  ?  If  the  Lord  be  God,  follow 
him :  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him."— Elijah. 

"  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns  or  figs  of  thistles  ?  " — Jesus. 

"  Doth  a  fountain  send  forth  at  the  same  place  sweet  water  and  bitter  ?  " 
— James. 

"  What  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial  ?  "—Paul 


CHAPTEE  VH 

KIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM 
Syncretism  in  Eeligion 

Two  centuries  and  a  half  of  Buddhism  in  Japan, 
showed  the  leaders  and  teachers  of  the  Indian  faith 
that  complete  victory  over  the  whole  nation  was  yet 
very  far  off.  The  court  had  indeed  been  invaded  and 
won.  Even  the  Mikado,  the  ecclesiastical  head  of 
Shinto,  and  the  incarnation  and  vicar  of  the  heavenly 
gods,  had  not  only  embraced  Buddhism,  but  in  many 
instances  had  shorn  the  hair  and  taken  the  vows  of  the 
monk.  Yet  the  people  clung  tenaciously  to  their  old 
traditions,  customs  and  worship ;  for  their  gods  were 
like  themselves  and  indeed  were  of  themselves,  since 
Shinto  is  only  a  transfiguration  of  Japanese  life.  In 
the  Japanese  of  those  days  we  can  trace  the  same  traits 
which  we  behold  in  the  modern  son  of  Nippon,  espe- 
cially his  intense  patriotism  and  his  warlike  tendencies. 
To  convert  these  people  to  the  peaceful  dogmas  of  Sid- 
dartha  and  to  make  them  good  Buddhists,  something 
more  than  teaching  and  ritual  was  necessary.  It  was 
indispensable  that  there  should  be  complete  substitu- 
tion, all  along  the  ruts  and  paths  of  national  habit,  and 
especially  that  the  names  of  the  gods  and  the  festivals 
should  be  Buddhaized. 

Popular  customs  are  nearly  immortal  and  ineradica- 


192  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ble.  Though  wars  may  come,  dynasties  rise  and  fall,  and 
convulsions  in  nature  take  place,  yet  the  people's  man- 
ners and  amusements  are  very  slow  in  changing.  If, 
in  the  history  of  Christianity,  the  European  mission- 
aries found  it  necessary  in  order  to  make  conquest  of 
our  pagan  forefathers,  to  baptize  and  re-name  without 
radically  changing  old  notions  and  habits,  so  did  it 
seem  equally  indispensable  that  in  Japan  there  should 
be  some  system  of  reconciliation  of  the  old  and  the 
new,  some  theological  revolution,  which  should  either 
fulfil,  absorb,  or  destroy  Shinto. 

In  the  histories  of  religions  in  Western  Asia,  North- 
ern Africa  and  Europe,  we  are  familiar  with  efforts  at 
syncretism.  We  have  seen  how  Philo  attempted  to 
unite  Hebrew  righteousness  and  Greek  beauty,  and  to 
harmonize  Moses  and  Plato.  We  know  of  Euhemerus, 
who  thought  he  read  in  the  old  mythologies  not  only 
the  outlines  of  real  history,  but  the  hieroglyphics  of 
legend  and  tradition,  truth  and  revelation.1  Students 
of  Church  history  are  well  aware  that  this  principle 
of  interpretation  was  followed  only  too  generously  by 
Tertullian,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Lactantius,  Chry- 
sostom  and  others  of  the  Church  Fathers.  Indeed,  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  in  any  of  the  great  religions  of 
the  world  an  utter  absence  of  syncretism,  or  the  union 
of  apparently  hostile  religious  ideas.  In  the  Thousand 
and  One  Nights,  we  have  an  example  in  popular  litera- 
ture. We  see  that  the  ancient  men  of  India,  Persia 
and  pre-Mohammedan  Arabia  now  act  and  talk  as  or- 
thodox Mussulmans.  In  matters  pertaining  to  art  and 
furniture,  the  statue  of  Jupiter  in  Rome  serves  for  St. 
Peter,  and  in  Japan  that  of  the  Virgin  and  child  for 
the  Buddha  and  his  mother.2 


RIYOBU,  OK  MIXED  BUDDHISM  193 

What,  however,  chiefly  concerns  the  critic  and  stu- 
dent of  religions  is  to  inquire  how  far  the  process  has 
been  natural,  and  the  efforts  of  those  who  have  brought 
about  the  union  have  been  honest,  and  their  motives 
pure.  The  Bible  pages  bear  witness,  that  Israel- 
ites too  often  tried  to  make  the  same  fountain  give 
forth  sweet  waters  and  bitter,  and  to  grow  thistles  and 
grapes  on  the  same  stem,  by  uniting  the  cults  of  Je- 
hovah and  the  Baalim.  King  Solomon's  enterprises  in 
the  same  direction  are  more  creditable  to  him  as  a 
politician  than  as  a  worshipper.3  In  the  history  of 
Christianity  one  cannot  commend  the  efforts  either  of 
the  Gnostics  or  the  neo-Platonists,  nor  always  justify 
the  mediaeval  missionaries  in  their  methods.  Nor  can 
we  accurately  describe  as  successful  the  ingenuity  of 
Vossius,  the  Dutch  theologian,  who,  following  the 
scheme  of  Euhemerus,  discovered  the  Old  Testament 
patriarchs  in  the  disguise  of  the  gods  of  Paganism. 
Nor,  even  though  Germany  be  the  land  of  learning,  can 
the  clear-headed  scholar  agree  with  some  of  her  ration- 
alists, who  are  often  busy  in  the  same  field  of  industry, 
setting  forth  wild  criticism  as  "  science." 

The  Kami  and  the  Buddhas. 

In  Japan,  to  solve  the  problem  of  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  ancient  traditions  of  the  divine  ancestors  and 
the  dogmas  of  the  Indian  cult,  it  was  necessary  that  some 
master  spirit,  profoundly  learned  in  the  two  Ways, 
of  the  Kami  and  of  the  Buddhas,  should  be  bold,  and 
also  as  it  seems,  crafty  and  unscrupulous.  To  con- 
vert a  line  of  theocratic  emperors,  whose  authority  was 
derived  from  their  alleged  divine  origin  and  sacerdotal 
13 


194:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

character,  into  patrons  and  propagandists  of  Buddhism, 
and  to  transform  indigenous  Shinto  gods  into  Buddhas 
elect,  or  Buddhas  to  come,  or  Buddhas  in  a  former 
state  of  existence,  were  tasks  that  might  appall  the 
most  prodigious  intellect,  and  even  strain  the  capacities 
of  what  one  might  imagine  to  be  the  universal  religion 
for  all  mankind. 

Yet  from  such  a  task  continental  Buddhism  had  not 
shrunk  before  and  did  not  shrink  then,  nor  indeed  from 
it  do  the  insular  Japanese  sects  shrink  now.  Indeed, 
Buddhism  is  quite  ready  to  adopt,  absorb  and  swallow 
up  Japanese  Christianity.  With  all  encompassing 
tentacles,  and  with  colossal  powers  of  digestion  and  as- 
similation, Northern  Buddhism  had  drawn  into  itself  a 
large  part  of  the  Brahminism  out  of  which  it  originally 
sprang,4  reversing  the  old  myth  of  Chronos  by  swal- 
lowing its  parents.  It  had  gathered  in,  pretty  much 
all  that  was  in  the  heavens  above  and  the  earth  be- 
neath and  the  waters  that  were  under  the  earth,  in 
Nepal,  Tibet,  China  and  Korea.  Thoroughly  exer- 
cised and  disciplined,  it  was  ready  to  devour  and  digest 
all  that  the  imagination  of  Japan  had  conceived. 

We  must  remember  that,  at  the  opening  of  the  ninth 
century,  the  Buddhism  rampant  in  China  and  indeed 
throughout  Chinese  Asia,  was  the  Tantra  system  of 
Yoga-chara.5  This  compound  of  polytheism  and  pan- 
theism, with  its  sensuous  paradise,  its  goddess  of  mercy 
and  its  pantheon  of  every  sort  of  worshipable  beings, 
was  also  equipped  with  a  system  of  philosophy  by 
which  Buddhism  could  be  adapted  to  almost  every 
yearning  of  human  nature  in  its  lowest  or  its  highest 
form,  and  by  which  things  apparently  contradictory 
could  be  reconciled.  Furthermore — and  this  is  not 


EIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  195 

the  least  important  thing  to  consider  when  the  work  to 
be  done  is  for  the  ordinary  man  as  an  individual  and 
for  the  common  people  in  the  mass — it  had  also  a  tre- 
mendous apparatus  for  touching  the  imagination  and 
captivating  the  fancy  of  the  unthinking  and  the  un- 
educated. 

For  example,  consider  the  equipment  of  the  Buddh- 
ist priests  of  the  ninth  century  in  the  matter  of  art 
alone.  Shinto  knows  next  to  nothing  of  art,6  and  in- 
deed one  might  almost  say  that  it  knows  little  of  civili- 
zation. It  is  like  ultra-Puritanic  Protestantism  and 
Iconoclasm.  Buddhism,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  mother 
of  art,  and  art  is  her  ever-busy  child  and  handmaid. 
The  temples  of  the  Kami  were  bald  and  bare.  The 
Kojiki  told  nothing  of  life  hereafter,  and  kept  silence 
on  a  hundred  points  at  which  human  curiosity  is  sure 
to  be  active,  and  at  which  the  Yoga  system  was  vol- 
uble. Buddhism  came  with  a  set  of  visible  symbols 
which  should  attract  the  eye  and  fire  the  imagination, 
and  within  ethical  limits,  the  passions  also.  It  was  a 
mixed  and  variegated  system, — a  resultant  of  many 
forces.7  It  came  with  the  thought  of  India,  the  art- 
influence  of  Greece,  the  philosophy  of  Persia,  the  spec- 
ulations of  the  Gnostics  and,  in  all  probability,  with 
ideas  borrowed  indirectly  from  Nestorian  or  other 
forms  of  Christianity ;  and  thus  furnished,  it  entered 
Japan. 

The  Mission  of  Art. 

Thus  far  the  insular  kingdom  had  known  only  the 
monochrome  sketches  of  the  Chinese  painters,  which 
could  have  a  meaning  for  the  educated  few  alone.  The 
composite  Tantra  dogmas  fed  the  fancy  and  stimulated 


196  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  imagination,  filling  them  with  pictures  of  life,  past, 
present  and  future.  "  The  sketch  was  replaced  by  the 
illumination."  Whole  schools  of  artists,  imported 
from  China  and  Korea,  multiplied  their  works  and  at- 
tracted the  untrained  senses  of  the  people,  by  filling 
the  temples  with  a  blaze  of  glory.  "  This  result  was 
sought  by  a  gorgeous  but  studied  pky  of  gold  and  color, 
and  a  lavish  richness  of  mounting  and  accessories,  that 
appear  strangely  at  variance  with  the  begging  bowl  and 
patched  garments  of  primitive  Buddhism." 8  The  change 
in  the  Japanese  temple  was  as  though  the  gray  clouds 
had  been  kissed  by  the  sun  and  made  to  laugh  rain- 
bows. The  country  of  the  Fertile  Plain  of  Sweet  Flags 
was  transformed.  It  suddenly  became  the  land  wherein 
gods  grew  not  singly  but  in  whole  forests.  Like  the 
Shulamite,  when  introduced  among  the  jewelled  ladies 
of  Solomon's  harem,  so  stood  the  boor  amid  the  sheen 
and  gold  of  the  new  temples. 

"Gold  was  the  one  tiling  essential  to  the  Buddhist  altar- 
piece,  and  sometimes,  when  applied  on  a  black  ground,  was  the 
only  material  used.  In  all  cases  it  was  employed  with  an  un- 
sparing hand.  It  appeared  in  uniform  masses,  as  in  the  body 
of  the  Buddha  or  in  the  golden  lakes  of  the  Western  Paradise ; 
in  minute  diapers  upon  brocades  and  clothing,  in  circlets  and 
undulating  rays,  to  form  the  glory  surrounding  the  head  of 
Amitaba  ;  in  raised  bosses  and  rings  upon  the  armlets  or  neck- 
lets of  the  Bodhisattvas  and  Devas,  and  in  a  hundred  other 
manners.  The  pigments  chosen  to  harmonize  with  this  display 
were  necessarily  body  colors  of  the  most  pronounced  hues,  and 
were  untoned  by  any  trace  of  chiaroscuro.  Such  materials  as 
these  would  surely  try  the  average  artist,  but  the  Oriental 
painter  knew  how  to  dispose  them  without  risk  of  crudity  or 
gaudiness,  and  the  precious  metal,  however  lavishly  applied, 
was  distributed  over  the  picture  with  a  judgment  that  would 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  197 

make  it  difficult  to  alter  or  remove  any  part  without  detriment 
to  the  beauty  of  the  work."9 

In  our  day,  Japanese  art  has  won  its  own  place  in 
the  world's  temple  of  beauty.  Even  those  familiar  with 
the  master-pieces  of  Europe  do  not  hesitate  to  award 
to  the  artists  of  Nippon  a  meed  of  praise  which,  within 
certain  limits,  is  justly  applied  to  them  equally  with 
the  masters  of  the  Italian,  the  Dutch,  the  Flemish,  or 
the  French  schools.  It  serves  our  purpose  simply  to 
point  out  that  art  was  a  powerful  factor  in  the  religious 
conquest  of  the  Japanese  for  the  new  doctrines  of  the 
Yoga  system,  which  in  Japan  is  called  Riyobu,  or 
Mixed  Buddhism. 

We  say  Mixed  Buddhism  rather  than  Riyobu  Shinto, 
for  Shinto  was  less  corrupted  than  swallowed  up,  while 
Buddhism  suffered  one  more  degree  of  mixture  and 
added  one  more  chapter  of  decay.  It  increased  in 
its  visible  body,  while  in  its  mind  it  became  less  and 
less  the  religion  of  Buddha  and  more  and  more  a 
thing  with  the  old  Shinto  heart  still  in  it,  making  a 
strange  growth  in  the  eyes  of  the  continental  believ- 
ers. To  the  Northern  and  Southern  was  now  added 
an  Eastern  or  Japanese  Buddhism. 

Who  was  the  wonder-worker  that  annexed  the  Land 
of  the  Gods  to  Buddhadom  and  re-read  the  Kojiki  as  a 
sutra,  and  all  Japanese  history  and  traditions  as  only  a 
chapter  of  the  incarnations  of  Buddha  ? 

Kobo  the  Wonder    Worker. 

The  Philo  and  Euhemerus  of  Japan  was  the  priest 
Kukai,  who  was  born  in  the  province  of  Sanuki,  in  the 
year  774.  He  is  better  known  by  his  posthumous  title 


198  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Kobo  Daishi,  or  the  Great  Teacher  who  promulgates 
the  Law.  By  this  name  we  shall  call  him.  About  his 
birth,  life  and  death,  have  multiplied  the  usual  swad- 
dling bands  of  Japanese  legend  and  tradition,10  and  to 
his  tomb  at  the  temple  on  Mount  Ko-ya,  the  Campo 
Santo  of  Japanese  Buddhism,  still  gather  innumerable 
pilgrims.  The  "hall  of  ten  thousand  lamps,"  each 
flame  emblematic  of  the  Wisdom  that  saves,  is  not,  in- 
deed, in  these  days  lighted  annually  as  of  old ;  but  the 
vulgar  yet  believe  that  the  great  master  still  lives  in 
his  mausoleum,  in  a  state  of  profoundly  silent  medita- 
tion. Into  the  hall  of  bones  near  by,  covering  a  deep 
pit,  the  teeth  and  "  Adam's  apple  "  of  the  cremated 
bodies  of  believers  are  thrown  by  their  relatives,  though 
the  pit  is  cleared  out  every  three  years.  The  devotees 
believe  that  by  thus  disposing  of  the  teeth  and 
"  Adam's  apple,"  they  obtain  the  same  spiritual  privi- 
leges as  if  they  were  actually  entombed  there,  that  is, 
of  being  born  again  into  the  heaven  of  the  Bodhisattva 
or  the  Pure  Land  of  Absolute  Bliss,  by  virtue  of  the 
mystic  formulas  repeated  by  the  great  master  in  his 
lifetime. 

Let  us  sketch  the  life  of  Kobo, 

First  named  Toto-mono,  or  Treasure,  by  his  parents, 
who  sent  him  to  Kioto  to  be  educated  for  the  priest- 
hood, the  youth  spent  four  years  in  the  study  of  the 
Chinese  classics.  Dissatisfied  with  the  teachings  of 
Confucius,  he  became  a  disciple  of  a  famous  Buddhist 
priest,  named  Iwabuchi  (Eock-edge  or  throne).  Soon 
taking  upon  himself  the  vows  of  the  monk,  he  was  first 
named  Kukai,  meaning  "  space  and  sea,"  or  heaven 
and  earth.11  He  overcame  the  dragons  that  assaulted 
him,  by  prayers,  by  spitting  at  them  the  rays  of  the 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  199 

evening  star  which  had  flown  from  heaven  into  his 
mouth  and  by  repeating  the  mystic  formulas  called 
Dharani.12  Annoyed  by  hobgoblins  with  whom  he 
was  obliged  to  converse,  he  got  rid  of  them  by  sur- 
rounding himself  with  a  consecrated  imaginary  enclos- 
ure into  which  they  were  unable  to  enter  against  his 
will. 

We  mention  these  legends  only  to  call  the  attention 
to  the  fact  that  they  are  but  copies  of  those  already 
accepted  in  China  at  that  time,  and  are  the  logical  and 
natural  fruit  of  the  Tantra  school  at  which  we  have 
glanced.  In  804,  Kobo  was  appointed  to  visit  the 
Middle  Kingdom  as  a  government  student.  By  means 
of  his  clever  pen  and  calligraphic  skill  he  won  his  way 
into  the  Chinese  capital.  He  became  the  favored  dis- 
ciple of  a  priest  who  taught  him  the  mystic  doctrines 
of  the  Yoga.  Having  acquired  the  whole  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  equipped  himself  with  a  large  library  of 
Buddhist  doctrinal  works  and  still  more  with  every 
sort  of  ecclesiastical  furniture  and  religious  goods,  he 
returned  to  Japan. 

Multitudes  of  wonders  are  reported  about  Kobo,  all 
of  which  show  the  growth  of  the  Tantra  school.  It  is 
certain  that  his  erudition  was  immense,  and  that  he 
was  probably  the  most  learned  man  of  Japan  in  that 
age,  and  possibly  of  any  other  age.  Besides  being  a 
Japanese  Ezra  in  multiplying  writings,  he  is  credited 
with  the  invention  of  the  hira-gana,  or  running  script, 
and  if  correctly  so,  he  deserves  on  this  account  alone 
an  immortal  honor  equal  to  that  of  Cadmus  or  Sequoia. 
The  kana 13  is  a  syllabary  of  forty-seven  letters,  which 
by  diacritical  marks,  may  be  increased  to  seventy.  The 
kata-kana  is  the  square  or  print  form,  the  hira-kana  is 


200  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  round  or  "  grass  "  character  for  writing.  Though 
not  as  valuable  as  a  true  phonetic  alphabet,  such  as 
the  Koreans  and  the  Cherokees  possess,  the  i-ro-ha,  or 
kana  script,  even  though  a  syllabary  and  not  an  alpha- 
bet, was  a  wonderful  aid  to  popular  writing  and  in- 
struction. 

Evidently  the  idea  of  the  i-ro-ha,  or  Japanese  ABC, 
was  derived  from  the  Sanskrit  alphabet,  or,  what  some 
modern  Anglo-Indian  has  called  the  Deva-Nagari  or 
the  god-alphabet.  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  to 
show  that  Kobo  did  more  than  arrange  in  order  forty- 
seven  of  the  easiest  Chinese  signs  then  used,  in  such 
a  manner  that  they  conveyed  in  a  few  lines  of  doggerel 
the  sense  of  a  passage  from  a  sutra  in  which  the  mor- 
tality of  man  and  the  emptiness  of  all  things  are 
taught,  and  the  doctrine  of  Nirvana  is  suggested.14 
Hokusai,  the  artist,  in  a  sketch  which  embodies  the 
popular  idea  of  this  bonze's  immense  industry,  repre- 
sents him  copying  the  shastras  and  sutras.  Kobo  is 
on  a  seat  before  a  large  upright  sheet  of  paper.  He 
holds  a  brush-pen  in  his  mouth,  and  one  in  each  of  his 
hands  and  feet,  all  moving  at  once.15  Favorite  por- 
tions of  the  Buddhist  scriptures  were  indeed  so  rapidly 
multiplied  in  Japan  in  the  ninth  century,  as  to  suggest 
the  idea,  that,  even  in  this  early  age,  block  printing  had 
been  imported  from  China,  whence  also  afterward,  in 
all  probability,  it  was  exported  into  Europe  before  the 
days  of  Gutenberg  and  Coster.16  The  popular  imagi- 
nation, however,  was  more  easily  moved  on  seeing  five 
brushes  kept  at  work  and  all  at  once  by  the  muscles 
in  the  fingers,  toes  and  mouth  of  one  man.  Yet,  "had 
his  life  lasted  six  hundred  years  instead  of  sixty,  he 
could  hardly  have  graven  all  the  images,  scaled  all  the 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIKED  BUDDHISM  201 

mountain  peaks,  confounded  all  the  sceptics,  wrought 
all  the  miracles  and  performed  all  the  other  feats  with 
which  he  is  popularly  credited.17 

Kobe's  Irenicon. 

Kobo  indeed  was  both  the  Philo  and  Euhemerus 
of  Japan,  plus  a  large  amount  of  priestly  cunning 
and  what  his  enemies  insist  was  dishonesty  and  for- 
gery. Soon  after  his  return  from  China,  he  went  to 
the  temples  of  Ise,18  the  most  holy  place  of  Shinto.19 
Taking  a  reverent  attitude  before  the  chief  shrine,  that 
of  Toyo  Uke  Bime  no  Kami  or  Abundant-  Food-Lady- 
God,  or  the  deified  Earth  as  the  producer  of  food  and 
the  upholder  of  all  things  upon  its  surface,  the  suppli- 
ant waited  patiently  while  fasting  and  praying. 

In  this,  Kobo  did  but  follow  out  the  ordinary  Shinto 
plan  for  securing  god-possession  and  obtaining  revela- 
tion ;  that  is,  by  starving  both  the  stomach  and  the 
brain.20  After  a  week's  waiting  he  obtained  the  vis- 
ion. The  Food-possessing  Goddess  revealed  to  him 
the  yoke  (or  Yoga)  by  which  he  could  harness  the  na- 
tive and  the  imported  gods  to  the  chariot  of  victorious 
Buddhism.  She  manifested  herself  to  him  and  de- 
livered the  revelation  on  which  his  system  is  founded, 
and  which,  briefly  stated,  is  as  follows  : 

All  the  Shinto  deities  are  avatars  or  incarnations  of 
Buddha.  They  were  manifestations  to  the  Japanese, 
before  Gautama  had  become  the  enlightened  one,  or 
the  jewel  in  the  lotus,  and  before  the  holy  wheel  of 
the  law  or  the  sacred  shastras  and  sutras  had  reached 
the  island  empire.  Furthermore,  provision  was  made 
for  the  future  gods  and  deified  holy  ones,  who  were 


202  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

to  proceed  from  the  loins  of  the  Mikado,  or  other  Japa- 
nese fathers,  according  to  the  saying  of  Buddha  which 
is  thus  recorded  in  a  Japanese  popular  work : 

"  Life  has  a  limited  span,  and  naught  may  avail  to  extend  it. 
This  is  manifested  by  the  impermanence  of  human  beings,  but 
yet,  whenever  necessary,  I  will  hereafter  make  my  appearance 
from  time  to  time  as  a  god  (Kami),  a  sage  (Confucian  teacher), 
or  a  Buddha  (Hotoke)."  21 

In  a  word,  the  Shinto  goddess  talked  as  orthodox 
(Yoga)  Buddhism  as  the  ancient  characters  of  the  In- 
dian, Persian  and  pre-Islarn- Arabic  stories  in  the  Ara- 
bian Nights  now  talk  the  purest  Mohammedanism.22 
According  to  the  words  put  into  Gautama's  mouth  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  the  Buddha  was  already  to  reap- 
pear in  the  particular  form  and  in  all  the  forms,  ac- 
ceptable to  Shintoists,  Confucianists,  or  Buddhists  of 
whatever  sect. 

Descending  from  the  shrine  of  vision  and  revelation, 
with  a  complete  scheme  of  reconciliation,  with  corre- 
lated catalogues  of  Shinto  and  Buddhist  gods,  with 
liturgies,  with  lists  of  old  popular  festivals  newly 
named,  with  the  apparatus  of  art  to  captivate  the 
senses,  Kobo  forthwith  baptized  each  native  Shinto 
deity  with  a  new  Chinese-Buddhistic  name.  For  every 
Shinto  festival  he  arranged  a  corresponding  Buddhist's 
saints'  day  or  gala  time.  Then,  training  up  a  band  of 
disciples,  he  sent  them  forth  proclaiming  the  new  ireni- 
con. 

The  Hindu  Yoga  Becomes  Japanese  Eiyobu. 

It  was  just  the  time  for  this  brilliant  and  able  eccle- 
siastic to  succeed.  The  power  and  personal  influence 
of  the  Mikado  were  weakening,  the  court  swarmed  with 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  203 

monks,  the  rising  military  classes  were  already  safely 
under  the  control  of  the  shavelings,  and  the  pen  of 
learning  had  everywhere  proved  itself  mightier  than 
the  sword  and  muscle.  Kobo's  particular  dialectic 
weapons  were  those  of  the  Yoga-chara,  or  in  Japanese, 
the  Shingon  Shu,  or  Sect  of  the  True  Word.23  He, 
like  his  Chinese  master,  taught  that  we  can  attain  the 
state  of  the  Enlightened  or  Buddha,  while  in  the  pres- 
ent physical  body  which  was  born  of  our  parents. 

This  branch  of  Buddhism  is  said  to  have  been 
founded  in  India  about  A.D.  200,  by  a  saint  who  made 
the  discovery  of  an  iron  pagoda  inhabited  by  the  holy 
one,  Vagrasattva,  who  communicated  the  exact  doctrine 
to  those  who  have  handed  it  down  through  the  Hindoo 
and  Chinese  patriarchs.  The  books  or  scriptures  of 
this  sect  are  in  three  sutras ;  yet  the  essential  point  in 
them  is  the  Mandala  or  the  circle  of  the  Two  Parts,  or 
in  Japanese  Eiyobu.  Introduced  into  China,  A.D.  720, 
it  is  known  as  the  Yoga-chara  school. 

Kobo  finding  a  Chinese  worm,  made  a  Japanese 
dragon,  able  to  swallow  a  national  religion.  In  the  act 
of  deglutition  and  the  long  process  of  the  digestion  of 
Shinto,  Japanese  Buddhism  became  something  differ- 
ent from  every  other  form  of  the  faith  in  Asia.  Noted 
above  all  previous  developments  of  Buddhism  for  its 
pantheistic  tendencies,  the  Shingon  sect  could  recog- 
nize in  any  Shinto  god,  demi-god,  hero,  or  being,  the 
avatar  in  a  previous  stage  of  existence  of  some  Buddh- 
ist being  of  corresponding  grade. 

For  example,24  Amaterastt  or  Ten-Sho-Dai-Jin,  the 
sun-goddess,  becomes  Dai  Nichi  Niorai  or  Amida, 
whose  colossal  effigies  stand  in  the  bronze  images  Dai 
Butsu  at  Nara,  Kioto  and  Kamakura. 


204  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Ojin,  the  god  of  war,  became  Hachiman  Dai  Bosatsu, 
or  the  great  Bodhisattva  of  the  Eight  Banners.  Adopted 
as  their  patron  by  the  fighting  Genji  or  Miiiamoto 
warriors  of  mediaeval  times,  the  Buddhists  could  not 
well  afford  to  have  this  popular  deity  outside  their  pan- 
theon. 

For  each  of  the  thirty  days  of  the  month,  a  Bodhi- 
sattva, or  in  Japanese  pronunciation  Bosatsu,  was  ap- 
pointed. Each  of  these  Bodhisattvas  became  a  Dai 
Mio  Jin  or  Great  Enlightened  Spirit,  and  was  repre- 
sented as  an  avatar  in  Japan  of  Buddha  in  the  previ- 
ous ages,  when  the  Japanese  wrere  not  yet  prepared  to 
receive  the  holy  law  of  Buddhism. 

Where  there  were  not  enough  Dai  Mio  Jin  already 
existing  in  native  traditions  to  fill  out  the  number  re- 
quired by  the  new  scheme,  new  titles  were  invented. 
One  of  these  was  Ten-jin,  Heavenly  being  or  spirit. 
The  famous  statesman  and  scholar  of  the  tenth  century, 
Sugawara  Michizane,  was  posthumously  named  Ten- 
jin,  and  is  even  to  this  day  worshipped  by  many  chil- 
dren of  Japan  as  he  was  formerly  for  a  thousand  years 
by  nearly  all  of  them,  as  the  divine  patron  of  letters. 
Kompira,  Benten  and  other  popular  deities,  often  con- 
sidered as  properly  belonging  to  Shinto,  "are  evidently 
the  offspring  of  Buddhist  priestly  ingenuity."  K  Out  of 
the  eight  millions  or  so  of  native  gods,  several  hundred 
were  catalogued  under  the  general  term  Gon-gen,  or 
temporary  manifestations  of  Buddha.  In  this  list  are 
to  be  found  not  only  the  heroes  of  local  tradition,  but 
even  deified  forces  of  nature,  such  as  wind  and  fire. 
The  custom  of  making  gods  of  great  men  after  their 
death,  thus  begun  on  a  large  scale  by  Kobo,  has  gone 
on  for  centuries.  Jyeyasu,  the  political  unifier  of 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  205 

Japan,  shines  as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the 
heavens  of  the  Riyobu  system,  under  the  name  of  To- 
sho  -  gu,  or  Great  Light  of  the  East.  The  common 
people  speak  of  him  as  Gon  -  gen  Sama,  the  latter 
word  being  an  honorary  form  of  address  for  all  beings 
from  a  baby  to  a  Bosatsu. 

In  this  way,  Kobo  arranged  a  sort  of  clearing-house 
or  joint -stock  company  in  which  the  Bodhisattvas, 
kami  and  other  miscellaneous  beings,  in  either  the 
native  or  foreign  religion,  were  mutually  interchange- 
able. In  a  large  sense,  this  feat  of  priestly  dexterity 
was  but  the  repetition  in  history,  of  that  of  Asanga  with 
the  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism  of  India  three  centu- 
ries before.  It  was  this  Asanga  who  wrote  the  Yoga- 
chara  Bhumi.  The  succession  of  syncretists  in  India, 
China  and  Japan  is  Asanga,  Hiukio  and  Kobo. 

The  Happy  Family  of  Riyobu. 

Nevertheless  this  attempt  at  making  a  happy  family 
and  ploughing  with  an  ox  and  ass  in  the  same  yoke, 
has  not  been  an  unqualified  success.  It  will  sometimes 
happen  that  one  god  escapes  the  classification  made 
by  the  Buddhists  and  slips  into  the  fold  of  Shinto,  or 
vice  versa  ;  while  again  the  label-makers  and  pasters — 
as  numerous  in  scholastic  Buddhism  as  in  sectarian 
Christendom — have  hard  work  to  make  the  labels  stick. 
A  popular  Gon-gen  or  Dai-Mio-jin,  whose  name  and  re- 
nown has  for  centuries  attracted  crowds  of  pilgrims, 
and  yielded  fat  revenues  as  regularly  as  the  autumn 
harvests,  is  not  readily  surrendered  by  the  old  Buddh- 
ist proprietors,  however  cleverly  or  craftily  the  bonzes 
may  yield  outward  conformity  to  governmental  edicts. 


206  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

On  the  other  hand,  the  efforts,  both  archaeological  and 
practical,  which  have  been  made  in  recent  years  by 
fiercely  zealous  Shintoists,  savor  of  the  smartness  of 
New  Japan  more  than  they  suggest  either  sincerity  or 
edification.  It  often  requires  the  finest  tact  on  the 
part  of  both  the  strenuous  Buddhists  and  the  stalwart 
purists  of  Shinto,  to  extricate  the  various  gods  out  of 
the  mixture  and  mess  of  Kiyobu  Shinto,  and  to  keep 
them  from  jostling  each  other. 

This  reclaiming  and  kidnapping  of  gods  and  trans- 
ferring them  from  one  camp  to  another,  has  been  espe- 
cially active  since  1870,  when,  under  government  aus- 
pices, the  Riyobu  temples  were  purged  of  all  Buddh- 
ist idols,  furniture  and  influences.  The  term  Dai  Mio 
Jin,  or  Great  Illustrious  Spirit,  is  no  longer  officially 
permitted  to  be  used  of  the  old  kami  or  gods  of 
Shinto,  who  were  known  to  have  existed  before  the 
days  of  Kobo.  In  some  cases  these  gods  have  lost 
much  of  the  esteem  in  which  they  were  held  for  cen- 
turies. Especially  is  this  true  of  the  infamous  rebel 
of  the  tenth  century,  Masakado.26  On  the  entrance 
into  Yedo  of  the  Imperial  army,  in  1868,  his  idol  was 
torn  from  its  shrine  and  hacked  to  pieces  by  the  pa- 
triots. His  place  as  a  deity  (Kanda  Dai  Mio  Jin,  or 
Great  Illustrious  Spirit  of  Kanda)  was  taken  by  an- 
other deified  being,  a  brother  to  the  aboriginal  earth- 
god  who,  in  the  ages  of  the  Kami,  "resigned  his 
throne  in  favor  of  the  Mikado's  ancestors  when  they 
descended  from  Heaven."  The  apotheosis  of  the  rebel 
Masakado  had  been  resorted  to  by  the  Buddhist  can- 
onizers  because  the  unquiet  spirit  of  the  dead  man 
troubled  the  people.  This  method  of  laying  a  ghost 
by  making  a  god  of  him,  was  for  centuries  a  favorite 


RIYOBV,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  207 

one  in  Japanese  Buddhism.  Indeed,  a  large  part  of 
the  practical  and  parochial  duties  of  the  bonzes  con- 
sists in  quieting  the  restless  spirits  of  the  departed. 

All  Japanese  popular  religion  of  the  past  has  been 
intensely  local  and  patriotic.  The  ancient  idea  that 
Nippon  was  the  first  country  created  and  the  centre  of 
the  World,  has  persisted  through  the  ages,  modifying 
every  imported  religion.  Hence  the  noticeable  fact  in 
Japanese  Buddhism,  of  the  comparative  degradation  of 
the  Hindu  deities  and  the  exaltation  of  those  which 
were  native  to  the  soil. 

The  normal  Japanese,  be  he  priest  or  lay  brother, 
theologian  or  statesman,  is  nothing  if  not  patriotic. 
Even  the  Chinese  gods  and  goddesses  which,  clothed 
in  Indian  drapery  and  still  preserving  their  Aryan 
features,  were  imported  to  Japan,  could  not  hold  their 
own  in  competition  with  the  popularity  of  the  indige- 
nous inhabitants  of  the  Japanese  pantheon.  The  nor- 
mal Japanese  eye  does  not  see  the  ideals  of  beauty  in 
the  human  face  and  form  in  common  with  the  Aryan 
vision.  Benten  or  Kuanon,  with  the  features  and  drap- 
ery of  the  homelike  beauties  of  Yamato  or  Adzuma, 
have  ever  been  more  lovely  to  the  admiring  eye  of  the 
Japanese  sailor  and  farmer,  than  the  Aryan  features 
of  the  idols  imported  from  India.  So  also,  the  wor- 
shipper to  whom  the  lovely  scenery  of  Japan  was  fresh 
from  the  hands  of  the  kami  who  were  so  much  like 
himself,  turned  naturally  in  preference,  to  the  "  gods 
many  "  of  his  own  land. 

Succeeding  centuries  only  made  it  worse  for  the  im- 
ported devas  or  gods,  while  the  kami,  or  the  gods 
sprung  from  the  soil  created  by  Izanami  and  Izanagi 
steadily  rose  in  honor. 


208  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


Degradation  of  the  Foreign  Deities. 

For  example,  the  Indian  saint  Dharma  is  reputed  to 
have  come  to  the  Dragon-fly  Country  long  before  the 
advent  of  Buddhism,  but  the  people  were  not  ready  for 
him  or  his  teachings,  and  therefore  he  returned  to 
India.  So  at  least  declares  the  book  entitled  San  Kai 
Ei27  (Mountain,  Sea  and  Earth),  which  is  a  re-reading 
and  explanation  of  Japanese  mythology  and  tradition  as 
recorded  in  the  Kojiki,  by  a  Kioto  priest  of  the  Shin 
Shu  Sect.  Of  this  Dharma,  it  is  said,  that  he  outdid 
the  Roman  Regulus  who  suffered  involuntary  loss  of 
his  eyelids  at  the  hands  of  the  Cartliaginians.  Dhar- 
ma cut  off  his  own  eyelids,  because  he  could  not  keep 
awake.28  Throwing  the  offending  flesh  upon  the  ground, 
he  saw  the  tea-plant  arise  to  help  holy  men  to  keep 
vigil.  Daruma,  as  the  Japanese  spell  his  name,  has  a 
temple  in  central  Japan.  It  is  related  that  when  Sho- 
toku,  the  first  patron  of  Buddhism,  was  one  day  walk- 
ing abroad  he  found  a  poor  man  dying  of  hunger,  who 
refused  to  answer  any  questions  or  give  his  name. 
Shotoku  ordered  food  to  be  given  him,  and  wrapped 
his  own  mantle  round  him.  Next  day  the  beggar  died, 
and  the  prince  charitably  had  him  buried  on  the  spot. 
Shortly  afterward  it  was  observed  that  the  mantle  was 
lying  neatly  folded  up,  on  the  tomb,  which  on  exami- 
nation proved  to  be  empty.  The  supposed  dying  beg- 
gar was  no  other  than  the  Indian  Saint  Dharma,  and  a 
pagoda  was  built  over  the  grave,  in  which  images  of 
the  priest  and  saint  were  enshrined.29  Yet,  alas,  to-day 
Daruma  the  Hindoo  and  foreigner,  despite  his  avatar, 
bis  humility,  his  vigils  and  his  self-mutilation,  has 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  209 

been  degraded  to  be  the  shop-sign  of  the  tobacconists. 
Besides  being  ruthlessly  caricatured,  he  is  usually  pict- 
ured with  a  scowl,  his  lidless  eyes  as  wide  open  as 
those  upon  a  Chinese  junk-prow  or  an  Egyptian  coffin- 
lid.  Often  even,  he  has  a  pipe  in  his  mouth — a  comi- 
cal anachronism,  suggestive  to  the  smoker  of  the  dark 
ages  that  knew  no  tobacco,  before  nicotine  made  the 
whole  world  of  savage  and  of  civilized  kin.  Legless 
dolls  and  snow-men  are  named  after  this  foreigner, 
whose  name  is  associated  almost  entirely  with  what  is 
ludicrous. 

On  Kobo's  expounding  his  scheme  to  the  Mikado, 
the  emperor  was  so  pleased  with  his  servant's  ingenu- 
ity, that  he  gave  it  the  name  of  Eiyobu  *  Shinto  ;  that 
is,  the  two-fold  divine  doctrine,  double  way  of  the  gods, 
or  amalgamated  theology.  Henceforth  the  Japanese 
could  enter  Nirvana  or  Paradise  through  a  two-leaved 
gate.  As  for  the  people,  they  also  were  pleased,  as 
they  usually  are  when  change  or  reform  does  not 
mean  abolition  of  the  old  festivals,  or  of  the  washings, 
sousings,  and  fun  at  the  tombs  of  their  ancestors  in 
the  graveyards,  or  the  merry-makings,  or  the  pilgrim- 
ages,31 which  are  usually  only  other  names  for  social 
recreation,  and  often  for  sensual  debauch.  The  Toga 
had  become  a  Jcubiki,  for  Shinto  and  Buddhism  were 
now  harnessed  together,  not  indeed  as  true  yoke-fel- 
lows, but  yet  joined  as  inseparably  as  two  oxen  making 
the  same  furrow. 

Many  a  miya  now  became  a  tera.  At  first  in  many 
edifices,  the  rites  of  Shinto  and  Buddhism  were  al- 
ternately performed.  The  Buddhist  symbols  might 
be  in  the  front,  and  the  Shintoist  in  the  rear  of  the 
sacred  hall,  or  vice  versa,  with  a  bamboo  curtain  be- 
14 


210  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tween ;  but  gradually  the  two  blended.  Instead  of 
austere  simplicity,  the  Shinto  interior  contained  a 
museum  of  idols. 

Image  carvers  had  now  plenty  to  do  in  making,  out 
of  camphor  or  hinoki  wood,  effigies  of  such  of  the 
eight  million  or  so  of  kamis  as  were  given  places  in 
the  new  and  enlarged  pantheon.  The  multiplication 
was  always  on  the  side  of  Buddhism.  Soon,  also,  the 
architecture  was  altered  from  the  type  of  the  primi- 
tive hut,  to  that  of  the  low  Chinese  temple  with  great 
sweeping  roof,  re-curved  eaves,  many-columned  audi- 
torium and  imposing  gateway,  with  lacquer,  paint, 
gilding  and  ceilings,  on  which,  in  blazing  gold  and 
color,  were  depicted  the  emblems  of  the  Buddhist 
paradise.  Many  of  these  still  remain  even  after  the 
national  purgation  of  1870,  just  as  the  Christian  in- 
scriptions survive  in  the  marble  palimpsests  of  Ma- 
hometan mosques,  converted  from  basilicas,  at  Damas- 
cus or  Constantinople.  The  torii  was  no  longer  raised 
in  plain  hinoki  wood,  but  was  now  constructed  of  hewn 
stone,  rounded  or  polished.  Sometimes  it  was  even  of 
bronze  with  gilded  crests  and  Sanskrit  monograms, 
surmounted,  it  may  be,  with  tablets  of  painted  or 
stained  wood,  on  which  were  Chinese  letters  glittering 
with  gold.  This  departure  from  the  primitive  idea  of 
using  only  the  natural  trunks  of  trees,  "  somewhat  on 
the  principle  of  Exodus,  20 : 25," 32  was  a  radical  one  in 
the  ninth  century.  The  elongated  barrels  with  iron 
hoops,  or  the  riveted  boiler-plate  and  stove-pipe  pat- 
tern, in  this  era  of  Meiji  is  a  still  more  radical  and, 
even,  scandalous  innovation. 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  211 


Shinto  Buried  in  Buddhism. 

So  complete  was  the  victory  of  Riyobuism,  that  for 
nearly  a  thousand  years  Shinto  as  a  religion,  except  in 
a  few  isolated  spots,  ceased  from  sight  and  sank  to  a 
mere  mythology  or  to  the  shadow  of  a  mythology.  The' 
very  knowledge  even  of  the  ancient  traditions  was  lost 
in  the  Buddhaized  forms  in  which  the  old  stories33 
were  cast,  or  in  the  omnipresent  ritual  of  the  Buddhist 
tera. 

Yet,  after  all,  it  is  a  question  as  to  which  suffered 
most,  Buddhism  or  Shinto.  Who  can  tell  which  was 
the  base  and  which  was  the  true  metal  in  the  alloy 
that  was  formed  ?  The  San  Kai  Ri  shows  how  supersti- 
tions manifold  became  imbedded  in  Buddhism.  It  was 
not  alone  through  the  Shingon  sect,  which  Kobo  intro- 
duced, that  this  Yoga  or  union  came.  In  the  other 
great  sect  called  the  Tendai,  and  in  the  later  sects, 
more  especially  in  that  of  Nichiren,  the  same  principle 
of  absorption  was  followed.  These  sects  also  adopted 
many  elements  derived  from  the  god- way  and  thus  be- 
came Shintoized.  Indeed,  it  seems  certain  that  that 
vast  development  of  Japanese  Buddhism,  peculiar  to 
Japan  and  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  Buddhist  world, 
scouted  by  the  Southern  Buddhists  as  dreadful  heresy, 
and  rousing  the  indignation  of  students  of  early  Buddh- 
ism, like  Max  Miiller  and  Professor  "Whitney,  is  largely 
owing  to  this  attempted  digestion  of  Japanese  myth- 
ology. The  anaconda  may  indeed  be  able,  by  reason 
of  its  marvellously  flexible  jaws  and  its  abundant  ac- 
tivity of  salivary  glands,  to  swallow  the  calf,  and  even 
the  ox ;  but  sometimes  the  serpent  is  killed  by  its  own 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

voracity,  or  at  least  made  helpless  before  the  destroy- 
ing hunter.  When  sweet  potatoes  and  pumpkins  are 
planted  in  the  same  hill,  and  the  cooked  product  comes 
on  the  table,  it  is  hard  to  tell  whether  it  is  tuber  or 
hollow  fruit,  subterranean  or  superficial  growth,  that  we 
are  eating.  So  in  Riyobu,  whether  it  be  most  imo  or 
kabocha  is  a  fair  question.  If  the  Buddhism  in  Japan 
did  but  add  a  chapter  of  decay  and  degradation  to  the 
religion  of  the  Light  of  Asia,  is  not  this  owing  to  the 
act  of  Kobo — justified  indeed  by  those  who  imitated 
his  example,  yet  hardly  to  be  called  honest  ?  A  stroke 
of  ecclesiastical  dexterity,  it  may  have  been,  but 
scarcely  a  lawful  example  or  an  illustrious  and  com- 
mendable specimen  of  syncretism  in  religion. 

Many  students  have  asked  what  is  the  peculiar,  the 
characteristic  difference  between  the  Buddhism  of  Ja- 
pan and  the  other  Buddhisms  of  the  Asian  contin- 
ent. If  there  be  one  cause,  leading  all  others,  we  in- 
cline to  believe  it  is  because  Japanese  Buddhism  is  not 
the  Buddhism  of  Gautama,  but  is  so  largely  Riyobu 
or  Mixed.  Yet  in  the  alloy,  which  ingredient  has  pre- 
served most  of  its  qualities  ?  Is  Japanese  Buddhism 
really  Shintoized  Buddhism,  or  Buddhaized  Shinto  ? 
Which  is  the  parasite  and  which  the  parasitized  ?  Is  the 
hermit  crab  Shinto,  and  the  shell  Buddhism,  or  vice 
versa  ?  About  as  many  corrupt  elements  from  Shinto 
entered  into  the  various  Buddhist  sects  as  Buddhism 
gave  to  Shinto. 

This  process  of  Shintoizing  Buddhism  or  of  Buddh- 
aizing  Shinto — that  is,  of  combining  Shinto  or  purely 
Japanese  ideas  and  practices  with  the  systems  im- 
ported from  India,  went  on  for  five  centuries.  The 
old  native  habits  and  mental  characteristics  were  not 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  213 

eradicated  or  profoundly  modified ;  they  were  rather 
safely  preserved  in  so-called  Buddhism,  not  indeed  as 
dead  flies  in  amber  but  as  live  creatures,  fattening  on  a 
body,  which,  every  year,  while  keeping  outward  form 
and  name,  was  being  emptied  of  its  normal  and  typical 
life.  It  is  no  gain  to  pure  water  to  add  either  mi- 
crobes or  the  food  which  nourishes  them. 

Buddhism  Writes  New  Chapters  of  Decay. 

Phenomenally,  the  victory  was  that  of  Buddhism. 
The  mustard  -  seed  has  indeed  become  a  great  tree, 
lodging  every  fowl  of  heaven,  clean  and  unclean  ;  but 
potentially  and  in  reality,  the  leavening  power,  as  now 
seen,  seems  to  have  been  that  of  Shinto.  Or,  to  change 
metaphor,  since  the  hermit  crab  and  the  shell  were 
separated  by  law  only  one  generation  ago,  in  1870,  we 
shall  soon,  before  many  generations,  discern  clearly 
which  has  the  life  and  which  has  only  the  shell.34 

There  are  but  few  literary  monuments  ^  of  Riyobu- 
ism,  and  it  has  left  few  or  no  marks  in  the  native 
chronicles,  misnamed  history,  which  utterly  omit  or 
ignore  so  many  things  interesting  to  the  student  and 
humanist.36  Yet  to  this  mixture  or  amalgamation  of 
Buddhism  with  Shinto,  more  probably  than  to  any 
other  direct  influence,  may  also  be  ascribed  that  strik- 
ing alteration  in  the  system  of  Chinese  ethics  or  Con- 
fucianism which  differentiates  the  Japanese  form  from 
that  prevalent  in  China.  That  is,  instead  of  filial 
piety,  the  relation  of  parent  and  child,  occupying  the 
first  place,  loyalty,  the  relation  of  lord  and  retainer, 
master  and  servant,  became  supreme.  Although  Buddh- 
ism made  the  Mikado  first  a  King  (Tenno)  or  Sou  of 


214  THE  HEL1GION8  OF  JAPAN 

Heaven  (Ten-Shi),  and  then  a  monk  (Ho-o),  and  after 
his  death  a  Hotoke  or  Buddhist  deity,  it  caused  him 
early  to  abdicate  from  actual  life.  Buddhism  is  thus 
directly  responsible  for  the  habitual  Japanese  resigna- 
tion from  active  life  almost  as  soon  as  it  is  entered,  by 
men  in  all  classes.  Buddhism  started  all  along  and 
down  through  the  lines  of  Japanese  society  the  idea  of 
early  retirement  from  duty  ;  so  that  men  were  consid- 
ered old  at  forty,  and  hors  concours  before  forty-five.37 
Life  was  condemned  as  vanity  of  vanities  before  it  was 
mature,  and  old  age  a  friend  that  nobody  wished  to 
meet,38  although  Japanese  old  age  is  but  European 
prime.  In  a  measure,  Buddhism  is  thus  responsible 
for  the  paralysis  of  Japanese  civilization,  which,  like 
oft-tapped  maple-trees,  began  to  die  at  the  top.  This 
wras  in  accordance  with  its  theories  and  its  literature. 
In  the  Bible  there  is,  possibly,  one  book  which  is  pessi- 
mistic in  tone,  Ecclesiastes.  In  the  bulky  and  dropsi- 
cal canon  of  Buddhism  there  is  a  whole  library  of  de- 
spondency and  despair. 

Nevertheless,  the  ethical  element  held  its  own  in  the 
Japanese  mind ;  and  against  the  pessimism  and  pueril- 
ity of  Buddhism  and  the  religious  emptiness  of  Shinto, 
the  bond  of  Japanese  society  was  sought  in  the  idea 
of  loyalty.  While  then,  as  we  repeat,  everything  that 
conies  to  the  Japanese  mind  suffers  as  it  were  "  a  sea 
change,  into  something  new  and  strange,"  is  it  not  fair 
to  say  that  the  change  made  by  Kobo  was  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Buddhism  as  a  system,  and  that  the  thing 
that  suffered  reversion  was  the  exotic  rather  than  the 
native  plant  ?  For,  in  the  emergence  of  this  new  idea 
of  loyalty  as  supreme,  Shinto  and  not  Buddhism  was 
the  dictator. 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  215 

Even  more  after  Kobe's  death  than  during  his  life, 
Japan  improved  upon  her  imported  faith,  and  rapidly 
developed  new  sects  of  all  degrees  of  reputableness  and 
disreputableness.  Had  Kobo  lived  on  through  the 
centuries,  as  the  boors  still  believe,39  he  could  not  have 
stopped,  had  he  so  desired,  the  workings  of  the  leaven  he 
had  brought  from  China.  From  the  sixth  to  the  twelfth 
century,  was  the  missionary  age  of  Japanese  Buddhism. 
Then  followed  two  centuries  of  amazing  development 
of  doctrine.  Novelties  in  religion  blossomed,  fruited 
and  became  monuments  as  permanent  as  the  age-en- 
during forests  Hakone,  or  Nikko.  Gautama  himself, 
were  he  to  return  to  "  red  earth  "  again,  could  not  rec- 
ognize his  own  cult  in  Japan. 

In  China  to-day  Buddhism  is  in  a  bad  state.  One 
writer  calls  it,  "  The  emasculated  descendant  that  now 
occupies  the  land  with  its  drone  of  priests  and  its 
temples,  in  which  scarce  a  worthy  disciple  of  the 
learned  patriarchs  of  ancient  days  is  to  be  found.  Ee- 
ceived  with  open  arms,  persecuted,  patronized,  smiled 
upon,  tolerated,  it  with  the  last  phase  of  its  existence, 
has  reached,  not  the  halcyon  days  of  peace  and  rest, 
but  its  final  stage,  foreshadowing  its  decay  from  rot- 
tenness and  corruption. 'M0  So  also,  in  a  like  report, 
agree  many  witnesses.  The  common  people  of  China 
are  to-day  Taoists  rather  than  Buddhists.41 

If  this  be  the  position  in  China,  something  not  very 
far  from  it  is  found  in  Japan  to-day.  Whatever  may 
be  the  Buddhism  of  the  few  learned  scholars,  who 
have  imbibed  the  critical  and  scientific  spirit  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  whatever  be  the  professions  and  represen- 
tations of  its  earnest  adherents  and  partisans,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  popular  Buddhism  is  both  ethically  and 


216  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

vitally  in  a  low  state.  In  outward  array  the  system  is 
still  imposing.  There  are  yet,  it  may  be,  millions  of 
stone  statues  and  whole  forests  of  wayside  effigies, 
outdoors  and  unroofed  —  irreverently  called  by  the 
Japanese  themselves,  "  wet  gods."  Hosts  upon  hosts 
of  lacquered  and  gilded  images  in  wood,  sheltered  under 
the  temple  tiles  or  shingles,  still  attract  worshippers. 
Despite  shiploads  of  copper  Buddhas  exported  as  old 
metal  to  Europe  and  America,  and  thousands  of  tons 
of  gods  and  imps  melted  into  coin  or  cannon,  there  are 
myriads  of  metal  reminders  of  those  fruits  of  a  relig- 
ion that  once  educated  and  satisfied ;  but  these  are,  in 
the  main,  no  longer  to  the  natives  instruments  of  in- 
spiration or  compellers  to  enthusiasm.  In  this  time 
of  practical  charity,  they  are  poor  substitutes  for  those 
hospitals  and  orphan  asylums  which  were  practically 
unknown  in  Japan  until  the  advent  of  Christianity. 

Ksbo's  smart  example  has  been  followed  only  too 
well  by  the  people  in  every  part  of  the  country.  One 
has  but  to  read  the  stacks  of  books  of  local  history  to 
see  what  an  amazing  proportion  of  legends,  ideas,  su- 
perstitions and  revelations  rests  on  dreams ;  how  in- 
credibly numerous  are  the  apparitions ;  how  often  the 
floating  images  of  Buddha  are  found  on  the  water; 
how  frequently  flowers  have  rained  out  of  the  sky; 
how  many  times  the  idols  have  spoken  or  shot  forth 
their  dazzling  rays — in  a  word  ;  how  often  art  and  arti- 
fices have  become  alleged  and  accepted  reality.  Un- 
fortunately, the  characteristics  of  this  literature  and 
undergrowth  of  idol  lore  are  monotony  and  lack  of 
originality ;  for  nearly  all  are  copies  of  Kobo's  model. 
His  cartoon  has  been  constantly  before  the  busy  weav- 
ers of  legend. 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  217 

It  may  indeed  be  said,  and  said  truly,  that  in  its 
multiplication  of  sects  and  in  its  growth  of  legend  and 
superstition,  Buddhism  has  but  followed  every  known 
religion,  including  traditional  Christianity  itself.  Yet 
popular  Buddhism  has  reached  a  point  which  shows, 
that,  instead  of  having  a  self-purgative  and  self-re- 
forming power,  it  is  apparently  still  treading  in  the 
steps  of  the  degradation  which  Kobo  began. 

The  Seven  Gods  of  Good  Fortune. 

We  repeat  it,  Riyobu  Buddhism  is  Japanese  Buddh- 
ism with  vengeance.  It  is  to-day  suffering  from  the 
effect  of  its  own  sins.  Its  ingiva  is  manifest.  Take, 
for  example,  the  little  group  of  divinities  known  as 
the  Seven  Gods  of  Good  Fortune,  which  forms  a  popu- 
lar appendage  to  Japanese  Buddhism  and  which  are  a 
direct  and  logical  growth  of  the  work  done  by  Kobo, 
as  shown  in  his  Riyobu  system.  Not  from  foreign  writ- 
ers and  their  fancies,  nor  even  from  the  books  which 
profess  to  describe  these  divinities,  do  we  get  such  an 
idea  of  their  real  meaning  and  of  their  influence  with 
the  people,  as  we  do  by  observation  of  every-day  prac- 
tice, and  a  study  of  the  idols  themselves  and  of  Japa- 
nese folk-lore,  popular  romance,  local  history  and  guide- 
books. These  familiar  divinities,  indeed,  at  the  present 
day  owe  their  vitality  rather  to  the  artists  than  the 
priests,  and,  it  may  be,  have  received,  together  with 
some  rather  rude  handling,  nearly  the  whole  of  their 
extended  popularity  and  influence  from  their  lay  sup- 
porters. The  Seven  Happy  Gods  of  Fortune  form 
nominally  a  Buddhist  assemblage,  and  their  effigies  on 
the  karui-dana  or  god-shelf,  found  in  nearly  every  Jap- 


218  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

anese  house,  are  universally  visible.  The  child  in 
Japan  is  rocked  to  sleep  by  the  soothing  sound  of  the 
lullaby,  which  is  often  a  prayer  to  these  gods.  Even 
though  it  may  be  with  laughing  and  merriment,  that, 
in  their  name  the  evil  gods  and  imps  are  exorcised 
annually  on  New  Year's  eve,  with  showers  of  beans 
which  are  supposed  to  be  as  disagreeable  to  the  Buddh- 
ist demons  "  as  drops  of  holy  water  to  the  Devil," 
yet  few  households  are  complete  without  one  or  more 
of  the  images  or  the  pictures  of  these  favorite  deities. 

The  separate  elements  of  this  conglomerate,  so 
typical  of  Japanese  religion,  are  from  no  fewer  than 
four  different  sources  :  Brahmanism,  Buddhism,  Tao- 
ism and  Shintoism.  "  Thus,  Bishamon  is  the  Buddh- 
ist Vdis'ramana 42  and  the  Brahmauic  Kuvera ;  Ben- 
ten  is  Sarasvati,  the  wife  of  Brahma  ;  Daikoku  is  an 
extremely  popularized  form  of  Mahakala,  the  black- 
faced  Temple  Guardian ;  Hotei  has  Taoist  attributes, 
but  is  regarded  as  an  incarnation  of  Maitreya,  the 
Buddhist  Messiah ;  Fuku-roku-jiu  is  of  purely  Taoist 
origin,  and  is  perhaps  a  personification  of  Lao-Tsze 
himself  ;  Ju-ro-jin  is  almost  certainly  a  duplicate  of 
Fuku-roku-jiu ;  and,  lastly,  Ebisu,  as  the  son  of  Iza- 
nagi  and  Izanami,  is  a  contribution  from  the  Shinto 
hero-worship."  ^  If  Eiyobu  Buddhism  be  two-fold, 
here  is  a  texture  or  amalgam  that  is  sJri-bu,  four-fold. 
Let  us  watch  lest  go-bu,  with  Christianity  mixed  in,  be 
the  next  result  of  the  process.  To  play  the  Japanese 
game  of  go-ban,  with  Christianity  as  the  fifth  counter, 
and  Jesus  as  a  Palestinian  avatar  of  some  Dhyani 
Buddha,  crafty  priests  in  Japan  are  even  now  planning. 

This  illustration  of  the  Seven  Gods  of  Happiness, 
whose  local  characters,  functions  and  relations  have 


EIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  219 

been  developed  especially  within  the  last  three  or  four 
hundred  years,  is  but  one  of  many  that  could  be  ad- 
duced, showing  what  proceeded  on  a  larger  scale.  The 
Biyobu  process  made  it  almost  impossible  for  the  av- 
erage native  to  draw  the  line  between  history  and  myth- 
ology. It  destroyed  the  boundary  lines,  as  Pantheism 
invariably  does,  between  fact  and  fiction,  truth  and 
falsehood.  The  Japanese  mind,  by  a  natural,  possi- 
bly by  a  racial,  tendency,  falls  easily  into  Pantheism, 
which  may  be  called  the  destroyer  of  boundaries  and 
the  maker  of  chaos  and  ooze.  Pretty  much  all  early 
Japanese  "history"  is  ooze;  yet  there  are  grave  and 
learned  men,  even  in  the  Constitutional  Japan  of  the 
Meiji  era — masters  in  their  arts  and  professions,  gradu- 
ates of  technical  and  philosophical  courses — who  sol- 
emnly talk  about  their  "  first  emperor  ascending  the 
throne,  B.C.  660."  and  to  whom  the  dragon-born,  early 
Mikados,  and  their  fellow-tribesmen,  seen  through  the 
exaggerated  mists  of  the  Kojiki,  are  divine  personages. 

The  Gon-gen  in  the  Processions. 

While  living  in  Japan  between  1870  and  1874,  the 
writer  used  to  enjoy  watching  and  studying  the  long 
processions  which  celebrated  the  foundation  of  temples, 
national  or  local  festivals,  or  the  completion  of  some 
great  public  enterprise,  such  as  the  railway  between 
Tokio  and  Yokohama.  In  rich  costume,  decoration, 
and  representation  most  of  the  cultus-objects  were 
marvels  of  art  and  skill.  Besides  the  gala  dresses  and 
uniforms,  the  fantastic  decorations  and  personal  adorn- 
ments, the  dances  which  represented  the  comedies  and 
tragedies  of  the  gods  and  the  striking  scenes  in  the 


220  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Kojiki,  there  were  colossal  images  of  Kami,  Bodhisatt- 
vas,  Goii-gen,  Dai  Mio  Jin,  and  of  imps,  oni,  mythical 
animal  forms  a^id  imaginary  monsters.44  More  inter- 
esting than  anything  else,  however,  were  the  male  and 
female  figures,  set  high  upon  triumphal  cars  having 
many  tiers,  and  arrayed  in  characteristic  primeval, 
ancient,  mediaeval,  or  early  modern  dress.  Some  were 
of  scowling,  others  of  benign  visage.  In  some  years, 
everyone  of  the  eight  hundred  and  e"ight  streets  of 
Yedo  sent  its  contribution  of  men,  money,  decora- 
tions, or  vehicles. 

As  seen  by  four  kinds  of  spectators,  the  average  ig- 
norant native,  the  Shintoist,  the  learned  Buddhist,  and 
the  critical  historical  scholar,  these  effigies  represented 
three  different  characters  or  creations.  Especially  were 
those  divine  personages  called  Gon-gen  worth  the  study 
of  the  foreign  observer. 

(1)  The  common  boor  or  streetman  saluted,  for  ex- 
ample, this  or  that  Dai  Mid  Jin,  as  the  great  illustrious 
spirit  or  god  of  a  particular  district.    To  this  spirit  and 
image  he  prayed  ;  in  his  honor  he  made  offerings  ;  his 
wrath  he  feared ;  and  his  smile  he  hoped  to  win,  for  the 
Gon-gen  was  a  divine  being. 

(2)  To  the  Shintoist,  who  hated  Buddhism  and  the 
Riyobu  Shinto  which  had  overlaid  his  ancestral  faith, 
and  who  scorned  and  tabooed  this  Chinese  term  Dai 
Mio  Jin,  this  or  that  image  represented  a  divine  ances- 
tor whose  name  had  in  it  many  Japanese  syllables,  with 
no  defiling  Chinese  sounds,  and  who  was  the  Kami  or 
patron  deity  of  this  or  that  neighborhood. 

(3)  To  the  Buddhist,  this  or  that  personage,  in  his 
lifetime,  in  the  early  ages  of  Japanese  history,  had 
been  an  avatar  of  Buddha  who  had  appeared  in  human 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  221 

flesh  and  brought  blessings  to  the  people  and  neigh- 
borhood ;  yet  the  people  of  the  early  ages  being  un- 
prepared to  receive  his  doctrine  or  revelation,  he  had 
not  then  revealed  or  preached  it ;  but  now,  as  for  a 
thousand  years  since  the  time  of  the  illustrious  and 
saintly  Kobo,  he  had  his  right  name  and  received  his 
just  honors  and  worship  as  an  avatar  of  the  eternal 
Buddha.  So,  although  Buddhist  and  Shintoist  might 
quarrel  as  to  his  title,  and  divide,  even  to  anger,  on 
minor  points,  they  would  both  agree  in  letting  the  com- 
mon people  take  their  pleasure,  enjoy  the  festivals  and 
merriment,  and  preserve  their  reverence  and  worship. 

(4)  Still  another  spectator  studied  with  critical  in- 
terest the  swaying  figure  high  in  air.  With  a  taste  for 
archaeology,  he  admired  the  accuracy  of  the  drapery 
and  associations.  He  was  amused,  it  may  be,  with  oc- 
casional anachronisms  as  to  garments  or  equipments. 
He  knew  that  the  original  of  this  personage  had  been 
nothing  more  than  a  human  being,  who  might  indeed 
have  been  conspicuous  as  a  brave  soldier  in  war,  or  as 
a  skilful  physician  who  helped  to  stop  the  plague,  or  as 
a  civilizer  who  imported  new  food  or  improved  agri- 
culture. 

In  a  word,  had  this  subject  of  the  ancient  Mikado 
lived  in  modern  Christendom,  he  might  be  honored 
through  the  government,  patent  office,  privy  council, 
the  admiralty,  the  university,  or  the  academy,  as  the  case 
or  worth  might  be.  He  might  shine  in  a  plastic  rep- 
resentation by  the  sculptor  or  artist,  or  be  known  in 
the  popular  literature ;  but  he  would  never  receive  re- 
ligious worship,  or  aught  beyond  honor  and  praise.  In 
this  swamping  of  history  in  legend  and  of  fact  in  dogma, 
we  behold  the  fruit  of  Kobo's  work,  Eiyobu  Buddhism. 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


Kola's  Work  Undone. 

Buddhism  calls  itself  the  jewel  in  the  lotus.  Japan- 
ese poetry  asks  of  the  dewdrop  "why,  having  the  heart 
of  the  lotus  for  its  home,  does  it  pretend  to  be  a  gem  ?  " 
For  a  thousand  years  Eiyobu  Buddhism  was  received  as 
a  pure  brilliant  of  the  first  water,  and  then  the  scholar- 
ship of  the  Shinto  revivalists  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury exposed  the  fraudulent  nature  of  the  unrelated 
parts  and  declared  that  the  jewel  called  Eiyobu  was 
but  a  craftsman's  doublet  and  should  be  split  apart. 
Only  a  splinter  of  diamond,  they  declared,  crowned  a 
mass  of  paste.  Indignation  made  learning  hot,  and  in 
1870  the  cement  was  liquefied  in  civil  war.  The  doub- 
let was  rent  asunder  by  imperial  decree,  as  when  a  lapi- 
dist  melts  the  mastic  that  holds  in  deception  adamant 
and  glass,  while  real  diamond  stands  all  fire  short  of  the 
hydro-oxygen  flame.  The  Eiyobu  temples  were  purged 
of  all  Buddhist  symbols,  furniture,  equipment  and  per- 
sonnel, and  were  made  again  to  assume  their  august  and 
austere  simplicity.  In  the  eyes  of  the  purely  aesthetic 
critic,  this  national  purgation  was  Puritanical  icono- 
clasm ;  in  those  of  the  priests,  cast  out  to  earn  rice  else- 
wise  and  elsewhere,  it  was  outrage,  which  in  individual 
instances  called  for  reprisal  in  blood,  fire  and  assassi- 
nation; to  the  Shintoist,  it  was  an  exhibition  of  the 
righteous  judgment  of  the  long-insulted  gods ;  in  the 
ken  of  the  critical  student,  it  seems  very  much  like 
historic  and  poetic  justice. 

In  our  day  and  time,  Eiyobu  Buddhism  furnishes  us 
with  a  warning,  for,  looked  at  from  a  purely  human 
point  of  view,  what  happened  to  Shinto  may  possibly 


RIYOBU,  OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM  223 

happen  to  Japanese  Christianity.  The  successors  of 
those  who,  in  the  ninth  century,  did  not  scruple  to 
Buddhaize  Shinto,  and  in  later  times,  even  our  own,  to 
Shintoize  Buddhism  while  holding  to  Buddha's  name 
and  all  the  revenue  possible,  will  Buddhaize  Christi- 
anity if  they  have  power  and  opportunity ;  and  signs 
are  not  wanting  to  show  that  this  is  upon  their  pro- 
gramme. 

The  water  of  stagnant  Buddhism  is  still  a  swarming 
mass,  which  needs  cleansing  to  purity  by  a  knowledge 
of  one  God  who  is  Light  and  Love.  Without  such 
knowledge,  the  manifold  changes  in  Buddhism  will  but 
form  fresh  chapters  of  degradation  and  decay.  Holding 
such  knowledge,  Christianity  may  pass  through  end- 
less changes,  for  this  is  her  capability  by  Divine  power 
and  the  authorization  of  her  Founder.  The  new 
Buddhism  of  our  day  is  endeavoring  to  save  itself 
through  reformation  and  progress.  In  doing  so,  the 
danger  of  the  destruction  of  the  system  is  great,  foi 
thus  far  change  has  meant  decay. 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  IN  ITS  DOCTRINAL 
EVOLUTIONS 


"  To  the  millions  of  China,  Corea,  and  Japan,  creator  and  creation  are 
new  and  strange  terms." — J.  H.  De  Forest. 

"  The  Law  of  our  Lord,  the  Buddha,  is  not  a  natural  science  or  a  relig- 
ion, but  a  doctrine  of  enlightenment ;  and  the  object  o£  it  is  to  give  rest  to 
the  restless,  to  point  out  the  Master  (the  Inmost  Man)  to  those  that  are 
blind  and  do  not  perceive  their  Original  State." 

"  The  Saddharma  Pundarika  Sutra  teaches  us  how  to  obtain  that  desir- 
able knowledge  of  the  mind  as  it  is  in  itself  [universal  wisdom]. 
Mind  is  the  One  Reality,  and  all  scriptures  are  the  micrographic  photo- 
graphs of  its  images.  He  that  fully  grasps  the  Divine  Body  of  Sakyamuni, 
holds  ever,  even  without  the  written  Sutra,  the  inner  Saddharma  Pundarika 
in  his  hand.  He  ever  reads  it  mentally,  even  though  he  would  never  read 
it  orally.  He  is  unified  with  it,  though  he  has  no  thought  about  it.  He  is 
the  true  keeper  of  the  Sutra." — Zitsuzen  Ashitsu  of  the  Tendai  sect. 

"It  [Buddhism]  is  idealistic.  Everything  is  as  we  think  it.  The  world 
is  my  idea.  .  .  .  Beyond  our  faith  is  naught.  Hold  the  Buddhist  to 
his  creed  and  insist  that  such  logic  destroys  itself,  and  he  triumphs  smil- 
ingly, '  Self -destructive  !  Of  course  it  is.  All  logic  is.  That  is  the  cen- 
tre of  my  philosophy.' " 

"It  [Buddhism]  denounces  all  desire  and  offers  salvation  as  the  reward 
of  the  murder  of  our  affections,  hopes,  and  aspirations.  It  is  possible 
where  conscious  existence  is  believed  to  be  the  chief  of  evils." — George 
William  Knox. 

u  Swallowing  the  device  of  the  priests,  the  people  well  satisfied,  dance 
their  prayers." — Japanese  Proverb. 

"  The  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is.  ...  without  variance,  without 
hypocrisy. " — James. 

uThe  mystery  of  God,  even  Christ  in  whom  are  all  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge." — Paul. 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  IN   ITS  DOCTRINAL   EVOLUTIONS 

Chronological  Outline 

IN  sketching  the  history  of  the  doctrinal  develop- 
ments of  Buddhism  in  Japan,  we  note  that  the  system, 
greatly  corrupted  from  its  original  simplicity,  was  in 
552  A.D.  already  a  millennium  old.  Several  distinct 
phases  of  the  much- altered  faith  of  Gautama,  were  intro- 
duced into  the  islands  at  various  times  between  the 
sixth  and  the  ninth  century.  From  these  and  from 
others  of  native  origin  have  sprung  the  larger  Japan- 
ese sects.  Even  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century, 
novelties  in  Buddhism  were  imported  from  China,  and 
the  exotics  took  root  in  Japanese  soil;  but  then,  with 
a  single  exception,  only  to  grow  as  curiosities  in  the 
garden,  rather  than  as  the  great  forests,  which  had  al- 
ready sprung  from  imported  and  native  specimens. 

We  may  divide  the  period  of  the  doctrinal  develop- 
ment of  Buddhism  in  Japan  into  four  epochs : 

I.  The  first,  from  552  to  805  A.D.,  will  cover  the  first 
six  sects,  which  had  for  their  centre  of  propagation, 
Nara,  the  southern  capital. 

II.  Then  follows  Riyobu  Buddhism,  from  the  ninth 
to  the  twelfth  centuries. 

III.  This  was  succeeded  by  another  explosion  of 


228  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

doctrine  wholly  and  peculiarly  Japanese,  and  by  a 
wide  missionary  propagation. 

IV.  From  the  sixteenth  to  the  nineteenth  century, 
there  is  little  that  is  doctrinally  noticeable,  until  our 
own  time,  when  the  new  Buddhism  of  to-day  claims  at 
least  a  passing  notice. 

The  Japanese  writers  of  ecclesiastical  history  class- 
ify in  three  groups  the  twelve  great  sects  as  the  first 
six,  the  two  mediae val,  and  the  four  modern  sects. 

In  this  lecture  we  shall  merely  summarize  the 
characteristics  of  the  first  five  sects  which  existed  be- 
fore the  opening  of  the  ninth  century  but  which  are 
not  formally  extant  at  the  present  time,  and  treat  more 
fully  the  purely  Japanese  developments.  The  first 
three  sects  may  be  grouped  under  the  head  of  the 
Hinayana,  or  Smaller  Vehicle,  as  Southern  or  primi- 
tive orthodox  Buddhism  is  usually  called. 

Most  of  the  early  sects,  as  will  be  seen,  were  founded 
upon  some  particular  sutra,  or  upon  selections  or  col- 
lections of  sutras.  They  correspond  to  some  extent 
with  the  manifold  sects  of  Christendom,  and  yet  this 
illustration  or  reference  must  not  be  misleading.  It  is 
not  as  though  a  new  Christian  sect,  for  example,  were 
in  A.D.  500  to  be  formed  wholly  on  the  gospel  of  Luke, 
or  the  book  of  the  Revelation  ;  nor  as  though  a  new  sect 
should  now  arise  in  Norway  or  Tennessee  because  of  a 
special  emphasis  laid  on  a  combination  of  the  epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  and  the  book  of  Daniel.  It  is  rather 
as  though  distinct  names  and  organizations  should  be 
founded  upon  the  writings  of  Tertullian,  of  Augustine, 
of  Luther,  or  of  Calvin,  and  that  such  sects  should  ac- 
cept the  literary  work  of  these  scholars  not  only  as 
commentaries  but  as  Holy  Scripture  itself. 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  229 

The  Buddhist  body  of  scriptures  has  several  times 
been  imported  and  printed  in  Japan,  but  has  never 
been  translated  into  the  vernacular.  The  canon1  is 
not  made  up  simply  of  writings  purporting  to  be  the 
words  of  Buddha  or  of  the  apostles  who  were  his  im- 
mediate companions  or  followers.  On  the  contrary,  the 
canon,  as  received  in  Japan,  is  made  up  of  books,  writ- 
ten for  the  most  part  many  centuries  after  the  last  of 
the  contemporaries  of  Gautama  had  passed  away.  Not 
a  few  of  these  writings  are  the  products  of  the  Chinese 
intellect.  Some  books  held  by  particular  sects  as  holy 
scripture  were  composed  in  Japan  itself,  the  very  books 
themselves  being  worshipped.  Nevertheless  those  who 
are  apparently  farthest  away  from  primitive  Buddhism, 
claim  to  understand  Buddha  most  clearly. 

The  Standard  Doctrinal  Work. 

One  of  the  most  famous  of  books,  honored  especially 
by  several  of  the  later  and  larger  sects  in  Japan,  and 
probably  the  most  widely  read  and  most  generally 
studied  book  of  the  canon,  is  the  Saddharma  Pun- 
darika.2  Professor  Kern,  who  has  translated  this  very 
rhetorical  work  into  English,  thinks  it  existed  at  or 
some  time  before  250  A.D.,  and  that  in  its  most  ancient 
form  it  dates  some  centuries  earlier,  possibly  as  early 
as  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era.  It  has  now  twenty- 
seven  chapters,  and  may  be  called  the  typical  scripture 
of  Northern  Buddhism.  It  is  overflowingly  full  of  those 
sensuous  images  and  descriptions  of  the  Paradise,  in 
which  the  imagination  of  the  Japanese  Buddhist  so  re- 
vels, and  in  it  both  rhetoric  and  mathematics  run 
wild.  Of  this  book,  "the  cream  of  the  revealed  doc- 


230  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

trine,"  we  shall  hear  often  again.  It  is  the  standard  of 
orthodoxy  in  Japanese  Buddhism,  the  real  genius  of 
which  is  monastic  asceticism  in  morals  and  philosoph- 
ical scepticism  in  religion. 

In  most  of  the  other  sutras  the  burden  of  thought 
is  ontology.  Doctrinally,  Buddhism  seems  to  be  less 
a  religion  than  a  system  of  philosophy.  Hundreds  of 
volumes  in  the  canon  concern  themselves  almost  wholly 
with  ontological  speculations.  The  Japanese  mind,3 
as  described  by  those  who  have  studied  most  acutely 
and  profoundly  its  manifestations  in  language  and  lit- 
erature, is  essentially  averse  to  speculation.  Yet  the 
first  forms  of  Buddhism  presented  to  the  Japanese, 
were  highly  metaphysical.  The  history  of  thought  in 
Japan,  shows  that  these  abstractions  of  dogma  were 
not  congenial  to  the  islanders.  The  new  faith  won  its 
way  among  the  people  by  its  outward  sensuous  attrac- 
tions, and  by  appeals  to  the  imagination,  the  fancy  and 
the  emotions ;  though  the  men  of  culture  were  led  cap- 
tive by  reasoning  which  they  could  not  answer,  even  if 
they  could  comprehend  it.  Though  these  early  forms 
of  dogma  and  philosophy  no  longer  survive  in  Japan, 
having  been  eclipsed  by  more  concrete  and  sensuous 
arguments,  yet  it  is  necessary  to  state  them  in  order  to 
show :  first,  what  Buddhism  really  is ;  second,  doc- 
trinal development  in  the  farthest  East;  and,  third, 
the  peculiarities  of  the  Japanese  mind. 

In  this  task,  we  are  happy  to  be  able  to  rely  upon 
native  witness  and  confession.4  The  foreigner  may 
easily  misrepresent,  even  when  sincerely  inclined  to 
utter  only  the  truth.  Each  religion,  in  its  theory  at 
least,  must  be  judged  by  its  ideals,  and  not  by  its  fail- 
ures. Its  truth  must  be  stated  by  its  own  professors. 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  231 

In  the  "  History  of  The  Twelve  Japanese  Sects,"  by 
Bunyiu  Nanjio,  M.A.  Oxon.,  and  in  "  Le  Bouddhisme 
Japonais,"  by  Ryauoii  Fujishima,  we  have  the  untram- 
melled utterances,  of  nine  living  lights  of  the  religion  of 
Shaka  as  it  is  held  and  taught  in  Dai  Nippon.  The 
former  scholar  is  a  master  of  texts,  and  the  latter  of 
philosophy,  each  editor  excelling  in  his  own  depart- 
ment ;  and  the  two  books  complement  each  other  in 
value. 

Buddhism,  being  a  logical  growth  out  of  Brahman- 
ism,  used  the  old  sacred  language  of  India  and  in- 
herited its  vocabulary.  In  the  Tripitaka,  that  is,  the 
three  book -baskets  or  boxes,  we  have  the  term  for 
canon  of  scripture,  in  the  complete  collection  of  which 
are  sutra,  vinaya  and  abidharma.  We  shall  see,  also, 
that  while  Gautama  shut  out  the  gods,  his  speculative 
followers  who  claimed  to  be  his  successors,  opened  the 
doors  and  allowed  them  to  troop  in  again.  The  de- 
mocracy of  the  congregation  became  a  hierarchy  and 
the  empty  swept  and  garnished  house,  a  pantheon. 

A  sutra,  from  the  root  siv,  to  sew,  means  a  thread  or 
string,  and  in  the  old  Veda  religion  referred  to  house- 
hold rites  or  practices  and  the  moral  conduct  of  life ; 
but  in  Buddhist  phraseology  it  means  a  body  of  doc- 
trine. A  shaster  or  shastra,  from  the  Sanskrit  root  $as, 
to  govern,  relates  to  discipline.  Of  these  shastras  and 
sutras  we  must  frequently  speak.  In  India  and  China 
some  of  these  sutras  are  exponents,  of  schools  of 
thought  or  opinion,  or  of  views  or  methods  of  looking 
at  things,  rather  than  of  organizations.  In  Japan 
these  schools  of  philosophy,  in  certain  instances,  be- 
come sects  with  a  formal  history. 

In  China  of  the  present  day,  according  to  a  Japanese 


232  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

traveller  and  author,  "the  Chinese  Buddhists  seem 
.  .  .  .  to  unite  all  different  sects,  so  as  to  make  one 
harmonious  sect."  The  chief  divisions  are  those  of  the 
blue  robe,  who  are  allied  with  the  Lamaism  of  Tibet  and 
whose  doctrine  is  largely  "  esoteric,"  and  those  of  the 
yellow  robe,  who  accept  the  three  fundamentals  of  prin- 
ciple, teaching  and  discipline.  Dhyana  or  contempla- 
tion is  their  principle  ;  the  Kegon  or  Avatamsaka  sutra 
and  the  Hokke  or  Saddharma  Pundarika  sutra,  etc., 
form  the  basis  of  their  teaching ;  and  the  Yinaya  of  the 
Four  Divisions  (Dharmagupta)  is  their  discipline.  On 
the  contrary,  in  Japan  there  are  vastly  greater  diver- 
sities of  sect,  principle,  teaching  and  discipline. 

Buddhism  as  a  System  of  Metaphysics. 

The  date  of  the  birth  of  the  Buddha  in  India,  ac- 
cepted by  the  Japanese  scholars  is  B.C.  1027 — the  day 
and  month  being  also  given  with  suspicious  accuracy. 
About  nine  centuries  after  Gautama  had  attained  Nir- 
vana, there  were  eighteen  schools  of  the  Hinayana  or 
the  doctrine  of  the  Smaller  Vehicle.  Then  a  shastra 
or  institute  of  Buddhist  ontology  in  nine  chapters,  was 
composed,  the  title  of  which  in  English,  is,  Book  of  the 
Treasury  of  Metaphysics.  It  had  such  a  powerful  in- 
fluence that  it  was  called  an  intelligence-creating,  or  as 
we  say,  an  epoch-making  book. 

This  Ku-sha  shastra,  from  the  Sanskrit  Icosa,  a  store, 
is  eclectic,  and  contains  nine  chapters  embodying  the 
views  of  one  of  the  schools,  with  selections  from  those 
of  others.  It  was  translated  in  A.D.  563,  into  Chinese 
by  a  Hindu  scholar ;  but  about  a  hundred  years  later 
the  famous  pilgrim,  whom  the  Japanese  call  Gen-jd,  but 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  233 

who  is  known  in  Europe  as  Hiouen  Thsaug,5  made  a  bet- 
ter translation,  while  his  disciples  added  commentaries. 

In  A.D.  658,  two  Japanese  priests6  made  the  sea- 
journey  westward  into  China,  as  Gen-jo  had  before 
made  the  land  pilgrimage  into  India,  and  became  pu- 
pils of  the  famous  pilgrim.  After  long  study  they  re- 
turned, bringing  the  Chinese  translation  of  this  shastra 
into  Japan.  They  did  not  form  an  independent  sect ; 
but  the  doctrines  of  this  shastra,  being  eclectic,  were 
studied  by  all  Japanese  Buddhist  sects.  This  Ku-sha 
scripture  is  still  read  in  Japan  as  a  general  institute 
of  ontology,  especially  by  advanced  students  who  wish 
to  get  a  general  idea  of  the  doctrines.  It  is  full  of 
technical  terms,  and  is  well  named  The  Store-house  of 
Metaphysics. 

The  Ku-sha  teaches  control  of  the  passions,  and  the 
government  of  thought.  The  burden  of  its  philosophy 
is  materialism ;  that  is,  the  non-existence  of  self  and 
the  existence  of  the  matter  which  composes  self,  or, 
as  the  Japanese  writer  says  :  "  The  reason  why  all  things 
are  so  minutely  explained  in  this  shastra  is  to  drive 
away  the  idea  of  self,  and  to  show  the  truth  in  order 
to  make  living  beings  reach  Nirvana."  Among  the 
numerous  categories,  to  express  wrhich  many  technical 
terms  are  necessary,  are  those  of  "  forms,"  eleven  in 
number,  including  the  five  senses  and  the  six  objects 
of  sense ;  the  six  kinds  of  knowledge ;  the  forty-six 
mental  qualities,  grouped  under  six  heads;  and  the 
fourteen  conceptions  separated  from  the  mind ;  thus 
making  in  all  seventy-two  compounded  things  and 
three  immaterial  things.  These  latter  are  "  conscious 
cessation  of  existence,"  "  unconscious  cessation  of  ex- 
istence," and  "  space." 


234  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

The  Keverencl  Shuzan  Enmra,  of  the  Shin-shu  sect 
of  Japan,  after  specifying  these  seventy-five  Dkarmas, 
or  things  compounded  and  things  immaterial,  says : 7 
"  The  former  include  all  things  that  proceed  from  a 
cause.  This  cause  is  Karma,,  to  which  everything  ex- 
isting is  due,  Space  and  Nirvana  alone  excepted. 
Again,  of  the  three  immaterial  things  the  last  two  are 
not  subjects  to  be  understood  by  the  wisdom  not  free 
from  frailty.  Therefore  the  '  conscious  cessation  of 
existence '  is  considered  as  being  the  goal  of  all  effort 
to  him  who  longs  for  deliverance  from  misery." 

In  a  word,  this  one  of  the  many  Buddhisms  of  Asia 
is  vastly  less  a  religion,  in  any  real  sense  of  the  word, 
than  a  system  of  metaphysics.  However,  the  doctrine 
to  be  mastered  is  graded  in  three  Yanas  or  Vehicles  ; 
for  there  are  now,  as  in  the  days  of  Shaka,  three  classes 
of  being,  graded  according  to  their  ability  or  power  to 
understand  "  the  truth."  These  are: 

(I.)  The  Sho-mon  or  lowest  of  the  disciples  of 
Shaka,  or  hearers  who  meditate  on  the  cause  and  ef- 
fect of  everything.  If  acute  in  understanding,  they 
become  free  from  confusion  after  three  births ;  but  if 
they  are  dull,  they  pass  sixty  kalpas 8  or  aeons  before 
they  attain  to  the  state  of  enlightenment. 

(II.)  The  Engaku  or  Pratyeka  Buddhas,  that  is, 
"  singly  enlightened,"  or  beings  in  the  middle  state, 
who  must  extract  the  seeds  or  causes  of  actions,  and 
must  meditate  on  the  twelve  chains  of  causation,  or 
understand  the  non-eternity  of  the  world,  while  gazing 
upon  the  falling  flowers  or  leaves.  They  attain  en- 
lightenment after  four  births  or  a  hundred  kalpas, 
according  to  their  ability. 

(III.)  The  Bodhisattvas  or  Buddhas-elect,  who  prac- 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  235 

tise  the  six  perfections  (perfect  practice  of  alms-giving, 
morality,  patience,  energy,  meditation  and  wisdom)  as 
preliminaries  to  Nirvana,  which  they  reach  only  after 
countless  kalpas. 

These  three  grades  of  pupils  in  the  mysteries  of 
Buddha  doctrine,  are  said  to  have  been  ordered  by 
Shaka  himself,  because  understanding  human  beings  so 
thoroughly,  he  knew  that  one  person  could  not  com- 
prehend two  ways  or  vehicles  (Yana)  at  once.  People 
were  taught  therefore  to  practise  anyone  of  the  three 
vehicles  at  pleasure. 

We  shall  see  how  the  later  radical  and  democratic 
Japanese  Buddhism  swept  away  this  gradation,  and  de- 
claring but  the  one  vehicle  (eka),  opened  the  kingdom 
to  all  believers. 

The  second  of  the  early  Japanese  schools  of  thought, 
is  the  Jo-jitsu,9  or  the  sect  founded  chiefly  upon  the 
shastra  which  means  The  Book  of  the  Perfection  of 
the  Truth,  containing  selections  from  and  explanations 
of  the  true  meaning  of  the  Tripitaka.  This  shastra 
was  the  work  of  a  Hindu  whose  name  means  Lion- 
armor,  and  who  lived  about  nine  centuries  after  Gau- 
tama. Not  satisfied  with  the  narrow  views  of  his 
teacher,  who  may  have  been  of  the  Dharmagupta  school 
(of  the  four  Disciplines),  he  made  selections  of  the  best 
and  broadest  interpretations  then  current  in  the  several 
different  schools  of  the  Smaller  Vehicle.  The  book  is 
eclectic,  and  attempts  to  unite  all  that  was  best  in  each 
of  the  Hinayana  schools  ;  but  certain  Chinese  teachers 
consider  that  its  explanations  are  applicable  to  the 
Great  Vehicle  also.  Translated  into  Chinese  in  406 
A.D.,  the  commentaries  upon  it  soon  numbered  hun- 
dreds, and  it  was  widely  expounded  and  lectured  upon. 


236  TUK  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Commentaries  upon  this  shastra  were  also  written  in 
Korean  by  Do-zo.  From  the  peninsula  it  was  intro- 
duced into  Japan.  This  Jo-jitsu  doctrine  was  studied 
by  prince  Shotoku,  and  promulgated  as  a  division  of  the 
school  called  San-Kon.  The  students  of  the  Jo-jitsu 
school  never  formed  in  Japan  a  distinct  organization. 

The  burden  of  the  teachings  of  this  school  is  pure 
nihilism,  or  the  non-existence  of  both  self  and  of  mat- 
ter. There  is  an  utter  absence  of  substantiality  in  all 
things.  Life  itself  is  a  prolonged  dream.  The  ob- 
jects about  us  are  mere  delusive  shadows  or  mirage, 
the  product  of  the  imagination  alone.  The  past  and 
the  future  are  without  reality,  but  the  present  state  of 
things  only  stands  as  if  it  were  real.  That  is  to  say : 
the  true  state  of  things  is  constantly  changing,  yet  it 
seems  as  if  the  state  of  things  were  existing,  even  as  does 
a  circle  of  fire  seen  when  a  rope  watch  is  turned  round 
very  quickly. 

Japanese  Pilgrims  to  China. 

The  Kis-shu  or  Yinaya  sect  is  one  of  purely  Chinese 
origin,  and  was  founded,  or  rather  re-founded,  by  the 
Chinese  priest  Dosen,  who  lived  on  Mount  Shunan 
early  in  the  seventh  century,  and  claimed  to  be  only 
re-proclaiming  the  rules  given  by  Gautama  himself. 
He  Avas  well  acquainted  with  the  Tripitaka  and  es- 
pecially versed  in  the  Yinaya  or  rules  of  discipline. 
His  purpose  was  to  unite  the  teachings  of  both  the 
Greater  and  the  Lesser  Yehicle  in  a  sutra  whose  burden 
should  be  one  of  ethics  and  not  of  dogma. 

The  founder  of  this  sect  was  greatly  honored  by  the 
Chinese  Emperor.  Furthermore,  he  was  honored  in 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  237 

vision  by  the  holy  Pindola  or  Binzura,10  who  praised 
the  founder  as  the  best  man  that  had  promulgated  the 
discipline  since  Buddha  himself.  In  later  centuries, 
successors  of  the  founder  compiled  commentaries  and 
reproclaimed  the  teachings  of  this  sect. 

In  A.D.  724  two  Japanese  priests  went  over  to  China, 
and  having  mastered  the  Eis-shu  doctrine,  received 
permission  to  propagate  it  in  Japan.  With  eighty-two 
Chinese  priests  they  returned  a  few  years  later,  having 
attempted,  it  is  said,  the  journey  five  times  and  spent 
twelve  years  on  the  sea.  On  their  return,  they  received 
an  imperial  invitation  to  live  in  the  great  monastery  at 
Nara,  and  soon  their  teachings  exerted  a  powerful  in- 
fluence on  the  court.  The  emperor,  empress  and  four 
hundred  persons  of  note  were  received  into  the  Buddh- 
ist communion  by  a  Chinese  priest  of  the  Eis-shu  school 
in  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century.  The  Mikado  Sho- 
mu  resigned  his  throne  and  took  the  vow  and  robes  of 
a  monk,  becoming  Ho-o  or  cloistered  emperor.  Under 
imperial  direction  a  great  bronze  image  of  the  Vairo- 
kana  Buddha,  or  Perfection  of  Morality,  was  erected, 
and  terraces,  towers,  images  and  all  the  paraphernalia 
of  the  new  kind  of  Buddhism  were  prepared.  Even 
the  earth  was  embroidered,  as  it  were,  with  sutras  and 
shastras.  Symbolical  landscape  gardening,  which,  in 
its  mounds  and  paths,  variously  shaped  stones  and  lan- 
terns, artificial  cascades  and  streamlets,  teaches  the  holy 
geography  as  well  as  the  allegories  and  hidden  truths 
of  Buddhism,  made  the  city  of  Nara  beautiful  to  the 
eyes  of  faith  as  well  as  of  sight. 

This  sect,  with  its  exceUence  in  morality  and  be- 
nevolence, proved  itself  a  beautifier  of  human  life, 
of  society  and  of  the  earth  itself.  Its  work  was  an 


238  TEE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

irenicon.  It  occupied  itself  exclusively  with  the 
higher  ethics,  the  higher  meditations  and  the  higher 
knowledge.  Interdicting  what  was  evil  and  prescrib- 
ing what  was  good,  its  precepts  varied  in  number  and 
rigor  according  to  the  status  of  the  disciple,  lay  or 
clerical.  It  is  by  the  observance  of  the  sila,  or  grades 
of  moral  perfection,  that  one  becomes  a  Buddha.  Be- 
sides making  so  powerful  a  conquest  at  the  southern 
capital,  this  sect  was  the  one  which  centuries  after- 
ward built  the  first  Buddhist  temple  in  Yedo.  Being 
ordinary  human  mortals,  however,  both  monk  and  lay- 
man occasionally  illustrated  the  difference  between 
profession  and  practice. 

These  three  schools  or  sects,  Ku-sha,  Jo-jitsu,  and 
Kis-shu,  may  be  grouped  under  the  Hinayana  or 
Smaller  Vehicle,  with  more  or  less  affiliation  with 
Southern  Buddhism  ;  the  others  now  to  be  described 
were  wholly  of  the  Northern  division. 

The  Hosso-shu,  or  the  Dharma-lakshana  sect,  as  de- 
scribed by  the  Bev.  Dai-ryo  Takashi  of  the  Shin-gon 
sect,  is  the  school  which  studies  the  nature  of  Dhar- 
mas  or  things.  The  three  worlds  of  desire,  form  and 
formlessness,  consist  in  thought  only;  and  there  is 
nothing  outside  thought.  Nine  centuries  after  Gau- 
tama, Maitreya,11  or  the  Buddha  of  kindness,  came 
down  from  the  heaven  of  the  Bodhisattva  to  the  lec- 
ture-hall in  the  kingdom  in  central  India  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Buddhas  elect,  and  discoursed  five  shas- 
tras.  After  that  two  Buddhist  fathers  who  were 
brothers,  composed  many  more  shastras  and  cleared  up 
the  meaning  of  the  Mahayana.  In  629  A.D.,  in  his 
twenty-ninth  year,  the  famous  Chinese  pilgrim,  Gen-jo 
(Hiouen-thsang),  studied  these  shastras  and  sciences, 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  239 

and  returning  to  China  in  645  A.D.,  began  his  great  work 
of  translation,  at  which  he  continued  for  nineteen  years. 
One  of  his  disciples  was  the  author  of  a  hundred  com- 
mentaries on  sutras  and  shastras.  The  doctrines  of 
Gen-jo  and  his  disciples  were  at  four  different  times, 
from  653  to  712  A.D.,  imported  into  Japan,  and  named, 
after  the  monasteries  in  which  they  were  promulgated, 
the  Northern  and  Southern  Transmission. 

TJie  Middle  Path. 

The  burden  of  the  teachings  of  this  sect  is  subject- 
ive idealism.  They  embrace  principles  enjoining  com- 
plete indifference  to  mundane  affairs,  and,  in  fact, 
thorough  personal  nullification  and  the  ignoring  of  all 
actions  by  its  disciples.  In  these  teachings,  thought 
only,  is  real.  As  we  have  already  seen  with  the  Ku- 
sha  teaching,  human  beings  are  of  three  classes,  di- 
vided according  to  intellect,  into  higher,  middle  and 
lower,  for  whom  the  systems  of  teachings  are  neces- 
sarily of  as  many  kinds.  The  order  of  progress  with 
those  who  give  themselves  to  the  study  of  the  Hosso 
tenets,  is,1;a  first,  they  know  only  the  existence  of  things, 
then  the  emptiness  of  them,  and  finally  they  enter  the 
middle  path  of  "  true  emptiness  and  wonderful  exist- 
ence." 

From  the  first,  such  discipline  is  long  and  painful, 
and  ultimate  victory  scarcely  comes  to  the  ordinary 
being.  The  disciple,  by  training  in  thought,  by  de- 
stroying passions  and  practices,  by  meditating  on  the 
only  knowledge,  must  pass  through  three  kalpas  or 
aeons.  Constantly  meditating,  and  destroying  the  two 
obstacles  of  passion  and  cognizable  things,  the  dis- 


iMO  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ciple  then  obtains  four  kinds  of  wisdom  and  truly  at- 
tains perfect  enlightenment  or  Pari-Nirvana. 

The  San-ron  Shu,  as  the  Three-Shastra  sect  calls 
itself,  is  the  sect  of  the  Teachings  of  Buddha's  whole 
life.13  Other  sects  are  founded  upon  single  sutras,  a 
fact  which  makes  the  student  liable  to  narrowness  of 
opinion.  The  San-ron  gives  greater  breadth  of  view 
and  catholicity  of  opinion.  The  doctrines  of  the 
Greater  Vehicle  are  the  principal  teachings  of  Gau- 
tama, and  these  are  thoroughly  explained  in  the  three 
shastras  used  by  this  sect,  which,  it  is  claimed,  con- 
tain Buddha's  own  words.  The  meanings  of  the  titles 
of  the  three  favorite  sutras,  are,  The  Middle  Book,  The 
Hundred,  and  The  Book  of  Twelve  Gates.  Other  books 
of  the  canon  are  also  studied  and  valued  by  this  sect, 
but  all  of  them  are  apt  to  be  perused  from  a  particular 
point  of  view ;  i.e.,  that  of  Pyrronism  or  infinite  nega- 
tion. 

There  are  two  lines  of  the  transmission  of  this  doc- 
trine, both  of  them  through  China,  though  the  intro- 
duction to  Japan  was  made  from  Korea,  in  625  A.D. 
Not  to  dwell  upon  the  detail  of  history,  the  burden  of 
this  sect's  teaching,  is,  infinite  negation  or  absolute  ni- 
hilism. Truth  is  the  inconceivable  state,  or,  in  the 
words  of  the  Japanese  writer :  "  The  truth  is  nothing 
but  the  state  where  thoughts  come  to  an  end;  the 
right  meditation  is  to  perceive  this  truth.  He  who 
has  obtained  this  meditation  is  called  Buddha.  This 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  San-ron  sect." 

This  sect,  by  its  teachings  of  the  Middle  Path, 
seems  to  furnish  a  bridge  from  the  Hinayana  or 
Southern  school,  to  the  Mahayana  or  Northern  school 
of  Buddhism.  Part  of  its  work,  as  set  forth  by  the 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  241 

Kev.  Ko-cho  Ogurusu,  of  the  Shin  sect,  is  to  defend 
the  authenticity,  genuineness  and  canonicity  of  the 
books  which  form  the  Northern  body  of  scriptures. 

In  these  two  sects  Hos-so  and  San-ron,  called  those 
of  Middle  Path,  and  much  alike  in  principle  and 
teaching,  the  whole  end  and  aim  of  mental  discipline, 
is  nihilism — in  the  one  case  subjective,  and  in  the 
other  absolute,  the  end  and  goal  being  nothing — this 
view  into  the  nature  of  things  being  considered  the 
right  one. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  such  teachings  could  in  the 
long  run  satisfy  neither  the  trained  intellects  nor  the 
unthinking  common  people  of  Japan  ?  Is  it  far  from 
the  truth  to  suspect  that,  even  when  accepted  by  the 
Japanese  courtiers  and  nobles,  they  were  received,  only 
too  often,  in  a  Platonic,  not  to  say  a  Pickwickian, 
sense  ?  The  Japanese  is  too  polite  to  say  "  no  "  if  he 
can  possibly  say  "  yes,"  even  when  he  does  not  mean 
it ;  while  the  common  people  all  over  the  world,  as  be- 
tween metaphysics  and  polytheism,  choose  the  latter. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that,  along  with  this  propagation  of 
Nihilism  as  taught  in  the  cloisters  and  the  court,  his- 
tory informs  us  of  many  scandals  and  much  immoral- 
ity between  the  women  of  the  court  and  the  Buddhist 
monks  ? 

Such  dogmas  were  not  able  to  live  in  organized 
forms,  after  the  next  importations  of  Buddhism  which 
came  in,  not  partly  but  wholly,  under  the  name  of  the 
Mahayana  or  Great  Vehicle,  or  Northern  Buddhism. 
By  the  new  philosophy,  more  concrete  and  able  to  ap- 
peal more  closely  to  the  average  man,  these  five  schools, 
which,  in  their  discussions,  dealt  almost  wholly  with 
noumena,  were  absorbed.  As  matter  of  fact,  none  of 
16 


242  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

them  is  now  in  existence,  nor  can  we  trace  them, 
speaking  broadly,  beyond  the  tenth  century.  Here 
and  there,  indeed,  may  be  a  temple  bearing  the  name 
of  one  of  the  sects,  or  grades  of  doctrine,  and  occa- 
sionally an  eccentric  individual  who  "  witnesses  "  to 
the  old  metaphysics ;  but  these  are  but  fossils  or  his- 
torical relics,  and  are  generally  regarded  as  such. 

Against  such  baldness  of  philosophy  not  only  might 
the  cultivated  Japanese  intellect  revolt  and  react,  but 
as  yet  the  common  people  of  Japan,  despite  the  mod- 
ern priestly  boast  of  the  care  of  the  imperial  rulers  for 
what  the  bonzes  still  love  to  call  "  the  people's  relig- 
ion," were  but  slightly  touched  by  the  Indian  faith. 

TJie  Great  Vehicle. 

The  Kegon-Shu  or  Avatamsaka-sutra  sect,  is  founded 
on  a  certain  teaching  which  Gautama  is  said  to  have 
promulgated  in  nine  assemblies  held  at  seven  different 
places  during  the  second  week  of  his  enlightenment. 
This  sutra  exists  in  no  fewer  than  six  texts,  around  each 
of  which  has  gathered  some  interesting  mythology.  The 
first  two  texts  were  held  in  memory  and  not  committed 
to  palm  leaves ;  the  second  pair  are  secretly  preserved 
in  the  dragon  palace  of  Kiu-gu14  under  the  sea,  and  are 
not  kept  by  the  men  of  this  world.  The  fifth  text  of 
100,000  verses,  was  obtained  by  a  Bodhisattva  from  the 
palace  of  the  dragon  king  of  the  world  under  the  sea 
and  transmitted  to  men  in  India.  The  sixth  is  the 
abridged  text. 

It  concerns  us  to  notice  that  the  shorter  texts  were 
translated  into  Chinese  in  the  fourth  century,  and  that 
later,  other  translations  were  made — 36,000  verses  of 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  243 

the  fifth  text,  45,000  verses  of  the  sixth  text,  etc. 
When  the  doctrine  of  the  sect  had  been  perfected  by 
the  fifth  patriarch  and  he  lectured  on  the  sutra,  rays  of 
white  light  came  from  his  mouth,  and  there  rained  won- 
derful heavenly  flowers.  In  A.D.  736  a  Chinese  Yinaya 
teacher  or  instructor  in  Buddhist  discipline,  named 
Do-sen,  first  brought  the  Kegon  scriptures  to  Japan. 
Four  years  later  a  Korean  priest  gave  lectures  on  them 
in  the  Golden-Bell  Hall  of  the  Great  Eastern  Monas- 
tery at  Nara.  He  completed  his  task  of  expounding 
the  sixty  volumes  in  three  years.  Henceforth,  lectur- 
ing on  this  sutra  became  one  of  the  yearly  services  of 
the  Eastern  Great  Monastery. 

"  The  Ke-gon  sutra  is  the  original  book  of  Buddha's 
teachings  of  his  whole  life.  All  his  teachings  there- 
fore sprang  from  this  sutra.  If  we  attribute  all  the 
branches  to  the  origin,  we  may  say  that  there  is  no 
teaching  of  Buddha  for  his  whole  life  except  this 
sutra."15  The  title  of  the  book,  when  literally  trans- 
lated, is  Great  -  square  -  wide  -  Buddha  -  flower  -  adorn- 
ment-teaching—  a  title  sufficiently  indicative  of  its 
rhetoric.  The  age  of  hard  or  bold  thinking  was  giving 
way  to  flowery  diction,  and  the  Law  was  to  be  made 
easy  through  fine  writing. 

The  burden  of  doctrine  is  the  unconditioned  or  real- 
istic, pantheism.  Nature  absolute,  or  Buddha -tathata, 
is  the  essence  of  all  things.  Essence  and  form  were  in 
their  origin  combined  and  identical.  Fire  and  water, 
though  phenomenally  different,  are  from  the  point  of 
view  of  Buddha-tathata  absolutely  identical.  Matter 
and  thought  are  one  —  that  is  Buddha-tathata.  In 
teaching,  especially  the  young,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  mind  resembles  a  fair  page  upon  which  the 


244  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

artist  might  trace  a  design,  especial  care  being  needed 
to  prevent  the  impression  of  evil  thoughts,  in  order  to 
accomplish  which  one  must  completely  and  always  di- 
rect the  mind  to  Buddha.16  One  notable  sentence  in 
the  text  is,  "  when  one  first  raises  his  thoughts  toward 
the  perfect  knowledge,  he  at  once  becomes  fully  en- 
lightened." 

In  some  parts  of  the  metaphysical  discussions  of  this 
sect  we  are  reminded  of  European  mediaeval  scholasti- 
cism, especially  of  that  discussion  as  to  how  many  an- 
gels could  dance  on  the  point  of  a  cambric  needle  with- 
out jostling  each  other.  It  says,  "  Even  at  the  point 
of  one  grain  of  dust,  of  immeasurable  and  unlimited 
worlds,  there  are  innumerable  Buddhas,  who  are  con- 
stantly preaching  the  Ke-gon  kio  (sutra)  throughout 
the  three  states  of  existence,  past,  present  and  future, 
so  that  the  preaching  is  not  at  all  to  be  collected." 17 

A  New  Chinese  Sect. 

In  its  formal  organization  the  Ten-dai  sect  is  of 
Chinese  origin.  It  is  named  after  Tien  Tai,18  a  moun- 
tain in  China  about  fifty  miles  south  of  Ningpo,  on 
which  the  book  which  forms  the  basis  of  its  tenets  was 
composed  by  Chi-sha,  now  canonized  as  a  Dai  Shi  or 
Great  teacher.  Its  special  doctrine  of  completion  and 
suddenness  was,  however,  transmitted  directly  from 
Shaka  to  Yairokana  and  thence  to  Maitreya,  so  that 
the  apostolical  succession  of  its  orthodoxy  cannot  be 
questioned. 

The  metaphysics  of  this  sect  are  thought  to  be  the 
most  profound  of  the  Greater  Vehicle,  combining  into 
a  system  the  two  opposite  ideas  of  being  and  not  being. 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  245 

The  teachers  encourage  all  men,  whether  quick  or  slow 
in  understanding,  to  exercise  the  principle  of  "  comple- 
tion" and  "suddenness,"  together  with  four  doctrinal 
divisions,  one  or  all  of  which  are  taught  to  men  accord- 
ing to  their  ability.  The  object  of  the  doctrine  is  to 
make  men  get  an  excellent  understanding,  practise 
good  discipline  and  attain  to  the  great  fruit  of  En- 
lightenment or  Buddha-hood. 

Out  of  compassion,  Gautama  appeared  in  the  world 
and  preached  the  truth  in  several  forms,  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  time  and  place.  There  are  four 
doctrinal  divisions  of  "completion,"  "secrecy,"  "medi- 
tation," and  "moral  precept,"  which  are  the  means  of 
knowing  the  principle  of  "completion."  From  Gau- 
tama Vairokana  and  Maitreya  the  doctrine  passed 
through  more  than  twenty  Buddhas  elect,  and  arrived 
in  China  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  twelfth  month, 
A.D.  401.  The  delivery  to  disciples  was  secret,  and 
the  term  used  for  this  esoteric  transmission  means 
"handed  over  within  the  tower." 

In  A.D.  805,  two  Japanese  pilgrims  went  to  China, 
and  received  orthodox  training.  With  twenty  oth- 
ers, they  brought  the  Ten-dai  doctrines  into  Japan. 
During  this  century,  other  Japanese  disciples  of  the 
same  sect  crossed  the  seas  to  study  at  Mount  Tien  Tai. 
On  coming  back  to  Japan  they  propagated  the  various 
shades  of  doctrine,  so  that  this  main  sect  has  many 
branches.  It  was  chiefly  through  these  pilgrims  from 
the  "West  that  the  Sanskrit  letters,  writing  and  litera- 
ture were  imported.  In  our  day,  evidences  of  Sanskrit 
learning,  long  since  neglected  and  forgotten,  are  seen 
chiefly  in  the  graveyards  and  in  charms  and  amulets. 

Although  the  philosophical  doctrines  of  Ten-dai  are 


246  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

much  the  same  as  those  of  the  Ke-gon  sect,  being 
based  on  pantheistic  realism,  and  teaching  that  the 
Buddha-tathata  or  Nature  absolute  is  the  essence  of  all 
things,  yet  the  Ten-dai  school  has  striking  and  peculiar 
features  of  its  own.  Instead  of  taking  some  particular 
book  or  books  in  the  canon,  shastra,  or  sutra,  selection 
or  collection,  as  a  basis,  the  Chinese  monk  Chi-sha 
first  mastered,  and  then  digested  the  whole  canon. 
Then  selecting  certain  doctrines  for  emphasis  he  sup- 
ported them  by  a  wide  range  of  quotation,  professing 
to  give  the  gist  of  the  pure  teachings  of  Gautama 
rather  than  those  of  his  disciples.  In  practice,  how- 
ever, the  Saddharma  Pundarika  is  the  book  most  hon- 
ored by  this  sect;  the  other  sutras  being  employed 
mainly  as  commentary.  Furthermore,  this  sect  makes 
as  strenuous  a  claim  for  the  true  apostolical  succession 
from  the  Founder,  as  do  the  other  sects. 

The  teachers  of  Ten-dai  doctrine  must  fully  estimate 
character  and  ability  in  their  pupils,  and  so  apportion 
instruction.  In  this  respect  and  in  not  a  few  others, 
they  are  like  the  disciples  of  Loyola,  and  have  properly 
been  called  the  Jesuits  of  Buddhism.  They  are  as- 
cetics, and  teach  that  spiritual  insight  is  possible  only 
through  prolonged  thought.  Their  purpose  is  to  rec- 
ognize the  Buddha,  in  all  the  forms  he  has  assumed 
in  order  to  save  mankind.  Nevertheless,  the  highest 
truths  are  incomprehensible  except  to  those  who  have 
already  attained  to  Buddha-hood.19  In  contrast  to  the 
Nichirenites,  who  give  an  emotional  and  ultra-concrete 
interpretation  and  expression  to  the  great  sutra  Hokke 
Kio,  the  Ten-dai  teachers  are  excessively  philosophical 
and  intellectual. 

In  its  history  the  Ten-dai  sect  has  followed  out  its 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  247 

logic.  Being  realistic  in  pantheism,  it  reverences  not 
only  Gautama  the  historic  Buddha,  but  also,  large  num- 
bers of  the  Hindu  deities,  the  group  of  idols  called 
Jizo,  the  god  Fudo,  and  Kuannon  the  god  or  goddess  of 
mercy,  under  his  or  her  protean  forms.  In  its  early 
history  this  sect  welcomed  to  its  pantheon  the  Shinto 
gods,  who,  according  to  the  scheme  of  Riyobu  Shin- 
to, were  declared  to  be  avatars  or  manifestations  of 
Buddha.  The  three  sub-sects  still  differ  in  their  wor- 
ship of  the  avatars  selected  as  supreme  deities,  but 
their  philosophy  enables  them  to  sweep  in  the  Buddhas 
of  every  age  and  clime,  name  and  nation.  Many  other 
personifications  are  found  honored  in  the  Ten-dai  tem- 
ples. At  the  gateways  may  usually  be  seen  the  colos- 
sal painted  and  hideous  images  of  the  two  Devas  or 
kings  (Ni-O).  These  worthies  are  none  other  than 
Indra  and  Brahma  of  the  old  Yedic  mythology. 

Space  and  time — which  seem  never  to  fail  the  Bud- 
dhists in  their  literature — would  fail  us  to  describe  this 
sect  in  full,  or  to  show  in  detail  its  teachings,  wherein 
are  wonderful  resemblances  to  European  ideas  and 
facts  —in  philosophy,  to  Hegel  and  Spinoza  and  in  his- 
tory, to  Jesuitism.  Nor  can  we  stay  to  point  out  the 
many  instances  in  which,  invading  the  domain  of  poli- 
tics, the  Ten-dai  abbots  with  their  armies  of  monks, 
having  made  their  monasteries  military  arsenals  and 
issuing  forth  clad  in  armor  as  infantry  and  cavalry, 
have  turned  the  scale  of  battle  or  dictated  policies  to 
emperors.  Like  the  Praetorian  guard  of  Rome  or  the 
clerical  militia  in  Spain,  these  men  of  keen  intellect 
have  left  their  marks  deep  upon  the  social  and  politi- 
cal history  of  the  country  in  which  they  dwelt.  They 
have  understood  thoroughly  the  art  of  practising  re- 


248  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ligion  for  the  sake  of  revenue.  To  secure  their  ends, 
priests  have  made  partnerships  with  other  sects ;  in 
order  to  hold  Shinto  shrines,  they  have  married  to 
secure  heirs  and  make  office  hereditary ;  and  finally  in 
the  Purification  of  1870,  when  the  Riyobu  system  was 
blown  to  the  winds  by  the  Japanese  Government,  not  a 
few  priests  of  this  sect  became  laymen,  in  order  to 
keep  both  office  and  emolument  in  the  purified  Shinto 
shrines. 

TJie  Sect  of  the  True   Word. 

It  is  probable  that  the  conquest  and  obliteration  of 
Shinto  might  have  been  accomplished  by  some  priest 
or  priests  of  the  Ten-dai  sect,  had  such  a  genius  as 
Kobo  been  found  in  its  household;  but  this  great 
achievement  was  reserved  for  the  man  who  introduced 
into  Japan  the  Shin-gon  Shu,  or  Sect  of  the  True 
Word.  The  term  gon  is  the  equivalent  of  Mantra,20  a 
Sanskrit  term  meaning  word,  but  in  later  use  referring 
to  the  mystic  salutations  addressed  to  the  Buddhist 
gods.  "  The  doctrine  of  this  sect  is  a  great  secret  law. 
It  teaches  us  that  we  can  attain  to  the  state  of  the 
'  Great  Enlightened,'  that  is  the  state  of  '  Buddha,' 
while  in  the  present  physical  body,  which  was  born  of 
our  parents  (and  which  consists  of  six  elements,21 
Earth,  Water,  Fire,  Wind,  Ether,  and  Knowledge),  if 
we  follow  the  three  great  secret  laws,  regarding  Body, 
Speech,  and  Thought." 23 

The  history  of  the  transmission  of  the  doctrine  from 
the  greatest  of  the  spirit-bodied  Btiddhas  to  the  his- 
toric founder,  Vagrabodhi,  is  carefully  given.  The 
latter  was  a  man  very  learned  in  regard  to  many  doc- 
trines of  Buddhism  and  other  religions,  and  was  es- 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  249 

pecially  well  acquainted  with  the  deepest  meaning  of 
the  doctrine  of  this  sect,  which  he  taught  in  India  for 
a  considerable  time.  The  doctrine  is  recorded  in  sev- 
eral sutras,  yet  the  essential  point  is  nothing  but  the 
Mandala,  or  circle  of  the  two  parts,  or,  in  Japanese, 
Riyobu. 

The  great  preacher,  Yagrabodhi,  in  720  A.D.,  came 
with  his  disciples  to  the  capital  of  China,  and  trans- 
lated the  sacred  books,  seventy -seven  in  number.  This 
doctrine  is  the  well-known  Yoga-chara,  which  has  been 
well  set  forth  by  Doctor  Edkins  in  his  scholarly  volume 
on  Chinese  Buddhism.  As  "  yoga  "  becomes  in  plain 
English  "  yoke,"  and  as  "  mantra "  is  from  the  same 
root  as  "  man  "  and  "  mind,"  we  have  no  difficulty  in 
recognizing  the  original  meaning  of  these  terms ;  the 
one  in  its  nobler  significance  referring  to  union  with 
Buddha  or  Gnosis,  and  the  other  to  the  thought  taking 
lofty  expression  or  being  debased  to  hocus-pocus  in 
charm  or  amulet.  Like  the  history  of  so  many  San- 
skrit words  as  now  uttered  in  every-day  English  speech, 
the  story  of  the  word  mantra  forms  a  picture  of  mental 
processes  and  apparently  of  the  degradation  of  thought, 
or,  as  some  will  doubtless  say,  of  the  decay  of  religion. 
The  term  mantra  meant  first,  a  thought ;  then  thought 
expressed  ;  then  a  Yedic  hymn  or  text ;  next  a  spell  or 
charm.  Such  have  been  the  later  associations,  in  India, 
China  and  Japan  with  the  term  mantra. 

The  burden  of  the  philosophy  of  the  Shin-gon, 
looked  at  from  one  point  of  view,  is  mysticism,  and 
from  another,  pantheism.  One  of  the  forms  of  Buddha 
is  the  principle  of  everything.  There  are  ten  stages 
of  thought,  and  there  are  two  parts,  "lengthwise  "  and 
"  crosswise  "  or  exoteric  and  esoteric.  Other  doctrines 


250  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  Buddhism  represent  the  first,  or  exoteric  stage,  and 
those  of  the  Shin-gon  or  true  word,  the  second,  or  eso- 
teric. The  primordial  principle  is  identical  with  that  of 
Maha-Vairokana,  one  of  the  forms23  of  Buddha.  The 
body,  the  word  and  the  thought  are  the  three  myste- 
ries, which  being  found  in  all  beings,  animate  and  in- 
animate, are  to  be  fully  understood  only  by  Buddhas, 
and  not  by  ordinary  men. 

To  show  the  actual  method  of  intellectual  procedure 
in  order  to  reach  Buddha-hood,  many  categories,  tables 
and  diagrams  are  necessary ;  but  the  crowning  tenet, 
most  far  reaching  in  its  practical  influence,  is  the  teach- 
ing that  it  is  possible  to  reach  the  state  of  Buddha-hood 
in  this  present  body. 

As  discipline  for  the  attainment  of  excellence  along 
the  path  marked  out  in  the  "Mantra  sect,"  there  are 
three  mystic  rites  :  (1)  worshipping  the  Buddha  with 
the  hand  in  certain  positions  called  signs  ;  (2)  repeat- 
ing Dharani,  or  mystic  formulas  ;  (3)  contemplation. 

Kobo  himself  and  all  those  who  imitated  him,  prac- 
tised fasting  in  order  to  clear  the  spiritual  eyesight. 
The  thinking  -  chairs,  so  conspicuous  in  many  old 
monasteries,  though  warmed  at  intervals  through  the 
ages  by  the  living  bodies  of  men  absorbed  in  contem- 
plation, are  rarely  much  worn  by  the  sitters,  because 
almost  absolute  cessation  of  motion  characterizes  the 
long  and  hard  thinkers  of  the  Shin-gon  philosophers. 
The  idols  in  the  Shin-gon  temples  represent  many  a 
saint  and  disciple,  who,  by  perseverance  in  what  a 
critic  of  Buddhism  calls  "mind-murder,"  and  the  use 
of  mystic  finger  twistings  and  magic  formulas,  has  won 
either  the  Nirvana  or  the  penultimate  stage  of  the  Bod- 
hisattva. 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  251 

In  the  sermons  and  discourses  of  Shin-gon,  the  sub- 
tle points  of  an  argument  are  seized  and  elaborated. 
These  are  mystical  on  the  one  side,  and  pantheistic  on 
the  other.  It  is  easily  seen  how  Buddha,  being  in 
Japanese  gods  as  well  as  men,  and  no  being  without 
Buddha,  the  way  is  made  clear  for  that  kind  of  a  mar- 
riage between  Buddhism  and  Shinto,  in  which  the  two 
become  one,  and  that  one,  as  to  revenue  and  advantage, 
Buddhism. 

Truth  Made  Apparent  by  One's  Own  Thought. 

The  Japanese  of  to-day  often  speak  of  these  seven 
religious  bodies  which  we  have  enumerated  and  de- 
scribed, as  "  the  old  sects,"  because  much  of  the  philos- 
ophy, and  many  of  the  forms  and  prayers,  are  common 
to  all,  or,  more  accurately  speaking,  are  popularly  sup- 
posed to  be ;  while  the  priests,  being  celibates,  refrain 
from  sake,  flesh  and  fish,  and  from  all  intimate  rela- 
tions with  women.  Yet,  although  these  sects  are  con- 
sidered to  be  more  or  less  conformable  to  the  canon  of 
the  Greater  Vehicle,  and  while  the  last  three  certainly 
introduce  many  of  its  characteristic  features — one  sect 
teaching  that  Buddha-hood  could  be  obtained  even 
in  the  present  body  of  flesh  and  blood — yet  the  idea  of 
Paradise  had  not  been  exploited  or  emphasized.  This 
new  gospel  was  to  be  introduced  into  Japan  by  the 
Jo-do  Shu  or  Sect  of  the  Pure  Land. 

Before  detailing  the  features  of  Jo-do,  we  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  in  Japan  the  propagation  of  the 
old  sects  was  accompanied  by  an  excessive  use  of  idols, 
images,  pictures,  sutras,  shastras  and  all  the  furniture, 
thought  necessary  in  a  Buddhist  temple.  The  course 


252  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  thought  and  action  in  the  Orient  is  in  many  respects 
similar  to  that  in  the  Occident.  In  western  lands,  with 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  religious  sentiment,  the  iconolater 
has  been  followed  by  the  iconoclast,  and  the  over- 
crowded cathedrals  have  been  purged  by  the  hammer 
and  fire  of  the  Protestant  and  Puritan.  So  in  Japan 
we  find  analogous,  though  not  exactly  similar,  reactions. 
The  rise  and  prosperity  of  the  believers  in  the  Zen 
dogmas,  which  in  their  early  history  used  sparingly  the 
eikon,  idol  and  sutra,  give  some  indication  of  protest 
against  too  much  use  of  externals  in  religion.  May  we 
call  them  the  Quakers  of  Japanese  Buddhism?  Cer- 
tainly, theirs  was  a  movement  in  the  direction  of  sim- 
plicity. 

The  introduction  of  the  Zen,  or  contemplative  sect, 
did,  in  a  sense,  both  precede  and  follow  that  of  Shin- 
gon.  The  word  Zen  is  a  shortened  form  of  the  term 
Zenna,  which  is  a  transliteration  into  Chinese  of  the 
Sanskrit  word  Dhyana,  or  contemplation.  It  teaches 
that  the  truth  is  not  in  tradition  or  in  books,  but  in 
one's  self.  Emphasis  is  laid  on  introspection  rather 
than  on  language.  "Look  carefully  within  and  there 
you  will  find  the  Buddha,"  is  its  chief  tenet.  In  the 
Zen  monasteries,  the  chair  of  contemplation  is,  or 
ought  to  be,  always  in  use. 

The  Zen  Shu  movement  may  be  said  to  have  arisen 
out  of  a  reaction  against  the  multiplication  of  idols.  It 
indicated  a  return  to  simpler  forms  of  worship  and 
conduct.  Let  us  inquire  how  this  was. 

It  may  be  said  that  Buddhism,  especially  Northern 
Buddhism,  is  a  vast,  complicated  system.  It  has  a 
literature  and  a  sacred  canon  which  one  can  think  of 
only  in  connection  with  long  trains  of  camels  to  carry, 


NOETHERN  BUDDHISM  253 

or  freight  trains  to  transport,  or  ships  a  good  deal 
bigger  than  the  Mayflower  to  import.  Its  multitudi- 
nous rules  and  systems  of  discipline  appall  the  spirit 
and  weary  the  flesh  even  to  enumerate  them  ;  so  that, 
from  one  point  of  view,  the  making  of  new  sects  is  a 
necessity.  These  are  labor-saving  inventions.  They 
are  attempts  to  reduce  the  great  bulk  of  scriptures  to 
manageable  proportions.  They  seek  to  find,  as  it  were, 
the  mother-liquor  of  the  great  ocean,  so  as  to  express 
the  truth  in  a  crystal.  Hence  the  endeavors  to  sim- 
plify, to  condense  ;  here,  by  a  selection  of  sutras, 
rather  than  the  whole  collection  ;  there,  by  emphasis 
on  a  single  feature  and  a  determination  to  put  the 
whole  thing  in  a  form  which  can  be  grasped,  either  by 
the  elect  few  or  by  the  people  at  large. 

The  Zen  sect  did  this  in  a  more  rational  way  than 
that  set  forth  as  orthodox  by  later  priestcraft,  which 
taught  that  to  the  believer  who  simply  turned  round 
the  revolving  library  containing  the  canon,  the  merit  of 
having  read  it  all  would  be  imputed.  The  rin-zo24 
found  near  the  large  temples, — the  cunning  invention 
of  a  Chinese  priest  in  the  sixth  century, — soon  became 
popular  in  Japan.  The  great  wooden  book-case  turn- 
ing on  a  pivot  contains  6,771  volumes,  that  being  the 
number  of  canonical  volumes  enumerated  in  China  and 
Japan. 

The  Zen  sect  teaches  that,  besides  all  the  doctrines 
of  the  Greater  and  the  Lesser  Vehicles,  whether  hid- 
den or  apparent,  there  is  one  distinct  line  of  transmis- 
sion of  a  secret  doctrine  which  is  not  subject  to  any 
utterance  at  all.  According  to  their  tenet  of  contem- 
plation, one  is  to  see  directly  the  key  to  the  thought  of 
Buddha  by  his  own  thought,  thus  freeing  himself  from 


254  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  multitude  of  different  doctrines — the  number  of 
which  is  said  to  be  eighty-four  thousand.  In  fact,  Zen 
Shu  or  "Dhyana  sect"  teaches  the  short  method  of 
making  truth  apparent  by  one's  own  thought,  apart 
from  the  writings. 

The  story  of  the  transmission  of  the  true  Zen  doc- 
trine is  this : 

"  When  the  blessed  Shaka  was  at  the  assembly  on  Vulture's 
Peak,  there  came  the  heavenly  king,  who  offered  the  Buddha  a 
golden-colored  flower  and  asked  him  to  preach  the  law.  The 
Blessed  One  simply  took  the  flower  and  held  it  in  his  hand,  but 
said  no  word.  No  one  in  the  whole  assembly  could  tell  what 
he  meant.  The  venerable  Mahahasyapa  alone  smiled.  Then 
the  Blessed  One  said  to  him,  '  I  have  the  wonderful  thought  of 
Nirvana,  the  eye  of  the  Right  Law,  which  I  shall  now  give  to 
you.'26  Thus  was  ushered  in  the  doctrine  of  thought  trans- 
mitted by  thought." 

After  twenty-eight  patriarchs  'had  taught  the  doc- 
trine of  contemplation,  the  last  came  into  China  in  A.D. 
520,  and  tried  to  teach  the  Emperor  the  secret  key  of 
Buddha's  thought.  This  missionary  Bodhidharma  was 
the  third  son  of  a  king  of  the  Kashis,  in  Southern  In- 
dia, and  the  historic  original  of  the  tobacconist's  shop- 
sign  in  Japan,  who  is  known  as  Daruma.  The  impe- 
rial Chinaman  was  not  yet  able  to  understand  the  secret 
key  of  Buddha's  thought.  So  the  Hindu  missionary 
went  to  the  monastery  on  Mount  Su,  where  in  medi- 
tation, he  sat  down  cross-legged  with  his  face  to  a  wall, 
for  nine  years,  by  which  time,  says  the  legend,  his 
legs  had  rotted  off  and  he  looked  like  a  snow-image. 
During  that  period,  people  did  not  know  him,  and 
called  him  simply  the  Wall-gazing  Brahmana.  After- 
ward he  had  a  number  of  disciples,  but  they  had  dif- 


NORTHERN  BUDDHISM  255 

ferent  views  that  are  called  the  transmissions  of  the 
skin,  flesh,  or  bone  of  the  teacher.  Only  one  of  them 
got  the  whole  body  of  his  teachings.  Two  great  sects 
were  formed :  the  Northern,  which  was  undivided,  and 
the  Southern,  which  branched  off  into  five  houses  and 
seven  schools.  The  Northern  Sect  was  introduced  into 
Japan  by  a  Chinese  priest  in  729  A.D.,  while  the  South- 
ern was  not  brought  over  until  the  twelfth  century.  In 
both  it  is  taught  that  perfect  tranquillity  of  body  and 
mind  is  essential  to  salvation.  The  doctrine  is  the 
most  sublime  one,  of  thought  transmitted  by  thought 
being  entirely  independent  of  any  letters  or  words. 
Another  name  for  them  is,  "The  Sect  whose  Mind 
Assimilates  with  Buddha,"  direct  from  whom  it  claims 
to  have  received  its  articles  of  faith. 

Too  often  this  idea  of  Buddhaship,  consisting  of  ab- 
solute freedom  from  matter  and  thought,  means  prac- 
tically mind-murder,  and  the  emptiness  of  idle  reverie. 

Contrasting  modern  reality  with  their  ancient  ideal, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  in  practice  there  is  not  a  little 
letter  worship  and  a  good  deal  of  pedantry ;  for,  in  all 
the  teachings  of  abstract  principles  by  the  different 
sects,  there  are  endless  puns  or  plays  upon  words  in 
the  renderings  of  Chinese  characters.  This  arises  from 
that  antithesis  of  extreme  poverty  in  sounds  with  amaz- 
ing luxuriance  in  written  expression,  which  character- 
izes both  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  languages. 

In  the  temples  we  find  that  the  later  deities  intro- 
duced into  the  Buddhist  pantheon  are  here  also  wel- 
come, and  that  the  triads  or  groups  of  three  precious 
ones,  the  "  Buddhist  trinity,"  so-called,26  are  surrounded 
by  gods  of  Chinese  or  Japanese  origin.  The  Zen  sect, 
according  to  its  professions  and  early  history,  ought  to 


256  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

be  indifferent  to  worldly  honors  and  emoluments,  and 
indeed  many  of  its  devotees  are.  Its  history,  however, 
shows  how  poorly  mortals  live  up  to  their  principles 
and  practise  what  they  preach.  Furthermore,  these 
professors  of  peace  and  of  the  joys  of  the  inner  life  in 
the  So-to  or  sub-sect  have  made  the  twenty-fifth  and 
twenty-sixth  years  of  Meiji,  or  A.D.  1893  and  1894, 
famous  and  themselves  infamous  by  their  long-con- 
tinued and  scandalous  intestine  quarrels.  Of  the  three 
sub-sects,  those  called  Ein-zai  and  So-to,  take  their 
names  from  Chinese  monks  of  the  ninth  century ;  while 
the  third,  O-baku,  founded  in  Japan  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  one  of  the  latest  importations  of  Chinese 
Buddhistic  thought  in  the  Land  of  the  Eising  Sun. 

Japanese  authors  usually  classify  the  first  six  de- 
nominations at  which  we  have  glanced,  some  of  which 
are  phases  of  thought  rather  than  organizations,  as 
"the  ancient  sects."  Ten-dai  and  Shin-gon  are  "the 
mediaeval  sects."  The  remaining  four,  of  which  we 
shall  now  treat,  and  which  are  more  particularly  Japan- 
ese in  spirit  and  development,  are  "  the  modern  sects." 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE 


"  A  drop  of  spray  cast  by  the  infinite 
I  hung  an  instant  there,  and  threw  my  ray 
To  make  the  rainbow.     A  microcosm  I 
Reflecting  all.     Then  back  I  fell  again, 
And  though  I  perished  not,  I  was  no  more." — 

The  Pantheist's  Epitaph. 

"Buddhism  is  essentially  a  religion  of  compromise." 
"Where  Christianity  has  One  Lord,  Buddhism  has  a  dozen." 
44 1  think  I  may  safely  challenge  the  Buddhist  priesthood  to  give  a  plain 
historical  account  of  the  Life  of  Aniida,  Kwannon,  Dainichi,  or  any  other 
Mahayana  Buddha,  without  being    in    serious  danger  of  forfeiting    my 


44  Christianity  openly  puts  this  Absolute  Unconditioned  Essence  iu  the 
forefront  of  its  teaching.  In  Buddhism  this  absolute  existence  is  only  put 
forward  when  the  logic  of  circumstances  compels  its  teachers  to  have  re- 
course to  it." — A.  Lloyd,  in  The  Higher  Buddhism  in  the  Light  of  the 
Nicene  creed. 

"Now  these  six  characters,  l Na-mu-A-mi-da-Butsu,'  Zend-o  has  ex- 
plained as  follows :  l  Namu '  means  [our]  following  His  behest — and  also 
[His]  uttering  the  Prayer  and  bestowing  [merit]  upon  us.  '  Amida  Butsu ' 
is  the  practice  of  this,  consequently  by  this  means  a  certainty  of  salvation 
is  attained." 

li  By  reason  of  the  conferring  on  us  sentient  creatures  of  this  great  good- 
ness and  great  merit  through  the  utterance  of  the  Prayer,  and  the  bestowal 
[by  Amida]  the  evil  Karma  and  [effect  of  the]  passions,  accumulated 
through  the  long  Kalpas,  since  when  there  was  no  beginning,  are  in  a 
moment  annihilated,  and,  in  consequence,  those  passions  and  evil  Karma 
of  ours  all  disappearing,  we  live  already  in  the  condition  of  the  steadfast, 
who  do  not  return  [to  revolve  in  the  cycle  of  Birth  and  Death]."— Rennyo 
of  the  Shin  sect,  1 1473. 

41  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God."— John. 

44  The  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  there  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning." — James. 


CHAPTEE  IX 

THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE 
The  Western  Paradise 

WE  cannot  take  space  to  show  how,  or  how  much, 
or  whether  at  all,  Buddhism  was  affected  by  Christi- 
anity, though  it  probably  was.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  Jo-do  Shu,  or  Sect  of  the  Pure  Land,  was  the  first 
of  the  many  denominations  in  Buddhism  which  defi- 
nitely and  clearly  set  forth  that  especial  peculiarity  of 
Northern  Buddhism,  the  Western  Paradise.  The 
school  of  thought  which  issued  in  Jo-do  Shu  was 
founded  by  the  Hindoo,  Memio.  In  A.D.  252  an  Indian 
scholar,  learned  in  the  Tripitaka,  came  to  China,  and 
translated  one  of  the  great  sutras,  called  Amitayus. 
This  sutra  gives  a  history  of  Tathagata  Amitabha,1 
from  the  first  spiritual  impulses  which  led  him  to  the 
attainment  of  Buddha-hood  in  remote  Kalpas  down  to 
the  present  time,  when  he  dwells  in  the  Western  World, 
called  the  Happy,  where  he  receives  all  living  beings 
from  every  direction,  helping  them  to  turn  away  from 
confusion  and  to  become  enlightened.2  The  apocalyp- 
tic twentieth  chapter  of  the  Hokke  Kio  is  a  glorifica- 
tion of  the  transcendent  power  of  the  Tathagatas,  ex- 
pressed in  flamboyant  oriental  rhetoric. 

We  have  before  called  attention  to  the  fact  that,  with 
the  multiplication  of  sutras  or  the  Sacred  Canon  and 


260  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  vast  increase  of  the  apparatus  of  Buddhism  as 
well  as  of  the  hardships  of  brain  and  body  to  be  under- 
gone in  order  to  be  a  Buddhist,  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  some  labor-saving  system  should  be  de- 
vised by  which  the  burden  could  be  borne.  Now,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  all  sects  claim  to  found  their  doctrine 
on  Buddha  or  his  work.  According  to  the  teaching  of 
certain  sects,  the  means  of  salvation  are  to  bo  found  in 
the  study  of  the  whole  canon,  and  in  the  practice  of 
asceticism  and  meditation.  On  the  contrary,  the  new 
lights  of  Buddhism  who  came  as  missionaries  into 
China,  protested  against  this  expenditure  of  so  much 
mental  and  physical  energy.  One  of  the  first  Chinese 
propagators  of  the  Jo-do  doctrine  declared  that  It  was 
impossible,  owing  to  the  decay  of  religion  in  his  own 
age,  for  anyone  to  be  saved  in  this  way  by  his  own  ef- 
forts. Hence,  instead  of  the  noble  eight-fold  path  of 
primitive  Buddhism,  or  of  the  complicated  system  of 
the  later  Buddhistic  Phariseeism  of  India,  hejjubsti- 
tuted  forjhe  difficult  road  to  Nirvana,  a  simple  faith  in 
the  all-saving  power  of  Amida.  In  one  of  the  sutras  it 
is  taught,  that  if  a  man  keeps  in  his  memory  the  name 
of  Amida  one  day,  or  seven  days,  the  Buddha  together 
with  Buddhas  elect,  will  meet  him  at  the  moment  of 
his  death,  in  order  to  let  him  be  born  in  the  Pure 
Land,  and  that  this  matter  has  been  equally  approved 
by  all  other  Buddhas  of  ten  different  directions. 

One  of  the  sutras,  translated  in  China  during  the 
fifth  century,  contains  the  teaching  of  Buddha,  which 
he  delivered  to  the  wife  of  the  King  of  Magadha,  who 
on  account  of  the  wickedness  of  her  son  was  feeling 
weary  of  this  world.  He  showed  her  how  she  might 
be  born  into  the  Pure  Land.  Three  paths  of  good  ac- 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         261 

tions  were  pointed  out.  Toward  the  end  of  the  par- 
ticular sutra  which  he  advised  her  to  read  and  recite, 
Buddha  says :  "  Let  not  one's  voice  cease,  but  ten  times 
complete  the  thought,  and  repeat  the  formula  of  the 
adoration  of  Amida."  "This  practice,"  adds  the  Jap- 
anese exegete  and  historian,  "is  the  most  excellent 
of  all." 

How  well  this  latter  teaching  is  practised  may  be 
demonstrated  when  one  goes  into  a  Buddhist  temple 
of  the  Jo-do  sect  in  Japan,  and  hears  the  constant  re- 
frain,— murmured  by  the  score  or  more  of  listeners  to  the 
sermon,  or  swelling  like  the  roar  of  the  ocean's  waves, 
on  festival  days,  when  thousands  sit  on  the  mats  be- 
neath the  fretted  roof  to  enjoy  the  exposition  of  doc- 
trine— "  Namu  Amida  Butsu  " — "  Glory  to  the  Eternal 
Buddha!"3 

The  apostolical  succession  or  transmission  through 
the  patriarchs  and  apostles  of  India  and  China,  is  well 
known  and  clearly  stated,  withal  duly  accredited  and 
embellished  with  signs  and  wonders,  in  the  historical 
literature  of  the  Jo-do  sect.  In  Buddhism,  as  in 
Christianity,  the  questions  relating  to  True  Churchism, 
High  Churchism,  the  succession  of  the  apostles,  teach- 
ers and  rulers,  and  the  validity  of  this  or  that  method 
of  ordination,  form  a  large  part  of  the  literature  of  con- 
troversy. Nevertheless,  as  in  the  case  of  many  a  Chris- 
tian sect  which  calls  itself  the  only  true  church,  the 
date  of  the  organization  of  Jo-do  was  centuries  later 
than  that  of  the  Founder  and  apostles  of  the  original 
faith.  Five  hundred  years  after  Zen-do  (A.D.  600-650), 
the  great  propagator  of  the  Jo-do  philosophy,  Ho-nen, 
the  founder  of  the  Jo-do  sect,  was  born ;  and  this  phase 
of^  organized  Buddhism,  like  tnat  of  Shin  Shu  and 


262  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Nichireh  Shu,  may  be  classed  under  the  head  of  East- 
ern or  Japanese  Buddhism. 

When  only  nine  years  of  age,  the  boy  afterward 
called  Ho-nen,  was  converted  by  his  father's  dying 
words.  He  went  to  school  in  his  native  province,  but 
his  priest-teacher  foreseeing  his  greatness,  sent  him  to 
the  monastery  of  Hiyeizan,  near  Kioto.  The  boy's  let- 
ter of  introduction  contained  only  these  words  :  "  I  send 
you  an  image  of  the  Bodhisattva,  (Mon-ju)  Manjusri." 
The  boy  shaved  his  head  and  received  the  precepts  of 
the  Ten-dai  sect,  but  in  his  eighteenth  year,  waiving 
the  prospect  of  obtaining  the  headship  of  the  great  de- 
nomination, he  built  a  hut  in  the  Black  Eavine  and 
there  five  times  read  through  the  five  thousand  vol- 
umes 4  of  the  Tripitaka.  He  did  this  for  the  purpose 
of  finding  out,  for  the  ordinary  and  ignorant  people 
of  the  present  day,  how  to  escape  from  misery.  He 
studied  Zen-do's  commentary,  and  repeated  his  exam- 
ination eight  times.  At  last,  he  noticed  a  passage  in  it 
beginning  with  the  words,  "  Chiefly  remember  or  re- 
peat the  name  of  Amida  with  a  whole  and  undivided 
heart."  Then  he  at  once  understood  the  thought  of 
Zen-do,  who  taught  in  his  work  that  whoever  at  any 
time  practises  to  remember  Buddha,  or  calls  his  name 
even  but  once,  will  gain  the  right  effect  of  going  to  be 
born  in  the  Pure  Land  after  death.  This  Japanese 
student  then  abandoned  all  sorts  of  practices  which 
he  had  hitherto  followed  for  years,  and  began  to  re- 
peat the  name  of  Amida  Buddha  sixty  thousand  times 
a  day.  This  event  occurred  in  A.D.  1175. 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         263 


Ho-nen,  Founder  of  the  Pure  Land  Sect. 

This  path-finder  to  the  Pure  Land,  who  developed  a 
special  doctrine  of  salvation,  is  best  known  by  his  post- 
humous title  of  Ho-nen.  During  his  lifetime  he  was 
very  famous  and  became  the  spiritual  preceptor  of 
three  Mikados.  After  his  death  his  biography  was 
compiled  in  forty -eight  volumes  by  imperial  order, 
and  later,  three  other  emperors  copied  or  republished 
it.  In  the  history  of  Japan  this  sect  has  been  one  of 
the  most  influential,  especially  with  the  imperial  and 
shogunal  families.  In  Kioto  the  magnificent  temples 
and  monasteries  of  Chion-in,  and  in  Tokio  Zo-jo-ji, 
are  the  chief  seats  of  the  two  principal  divisions  of 
this  sect.  The  gorgeous  mausoleums, — well  known 
to  every  foreign  tourist, — at  Shiba  and  Uyeno  in 
Tokio,  and  the  clustered  and  matchless  splendors  of 
Nikko,  belong  to  this  sect,  which  has  been  under  the 
patronage  of  the  illustrious  line  of  the  Tokugawa,5 
while  its  temples  and  shrines  are  numbered  by  many 
thousands. 

_The  doctrine  of  the  Jo-dd,  or  the  Pure  Land  Sect,  is 
easily  discerned.  One  of  Buddha's  disciples  said,  that 
in  the  teachings  of  the  Master  there  are  two  divisions 
or  vehicles.  In  the  Maha-yana  also  there  are  two 
gates;  the  Holy  path,  and  the  Pure  Land.  The 
Smaller  Vehicle  is  the  doctrine  by  which  the  immedi- 
ate disciples  of  Buddha  and  those  for  five  hundred 
years  succeeding,  practised  the  various  virtues  and  dis- 
cipline. The  gateway  of  the  Maha-yana  is  also  the 
doctrine,  by  which  in  addition  to  the  trainings  men- 
tioned, there  are  also  understood  the  three  virtues  of 


264:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

spiritual  body,  wisdom  and  deliverance.  The  man 
who  is  able  successfully  to  complete  this  course  of  dis- 
cipline and  practice  is  no  ordinary  person,  but  is  sup- 
posed to  possess  merit  produced  from  good  actions 
performed  in  a  former  state  of  existence.  The  doc- 
trine by  which  man  may  do  so,  is  called  the  gate  of 
the  TTnl^Jiffik 

During  the  fifteen  hundred  years  after  Buddha  there 
were  from  time  to  time,  annfr  p^rsona^es  in  the  world, 
T^ft  attfl1'"0'1  fV>Q  end  of  tha~Holy  Path ;  hut  in  these 
latter  days  people  are  more  insincere,  covetoi 
contentious,  and  the  discipline  is  too  hard  for  degen- 
erate times  and  men.  The  three  trainings  already 
spoken  of  are  the  correct  causes  of  deliverance ;  but  if 
people  think  them  as  useless  as  last  year's  almanac, 
when  can  they  complete  their  deliverance  ?  Ho-nen, 
deeply  mpiditafag-  on  this,  shut  up  the  gate~of  the 
Holy  Path  and  opened  that  of  the  Pure  Land ;  for  in 
the  former  the  effective  deliverance  is  expected  in  this 
world  by  the  three  trainings  of  morality,  thought  and 
learning,  but  in  the  latter  the  great  fruit  of  going  to 
be  i1"**"^  1l]^iiMbiZPlIttJ_3jllDfl  flftp1*  ^fttitli^*3  expected 
through  the  sole  practice  of  repeating  Buddha's  name. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  easy  to  accomplish  the  cause  and 
effect  of  the  Holy  Path,  but  both  those  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Pure  Land  are  very  easy  to  be  completed. 
The  difference  is  like  that  between  travelling  by  land 
and  travelling  by  water.6  The  doctrines  preached  by 
the  Buddha  are  eighty-four  thousand  in  number  ;  that  is 
to  say,  he  taught  one  kind  of  people  one  system,  that 
of  the  Holy  Path,  and  another  kind  that  of  the  Pure 
Land.  The  Pure  Land  doctrine  of  Ho-nen  was  derived 
from  the  sutra  preached  by  the  great  teacher  Shaka. 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE          265 

This  simple  doctrine  of  "  land  travel  to  Paradise  " 
was  one  which  the  people  of  Japan  could  easily  under- 
stand, and  it  became  amazingly  popular.  Salvation 
along  this  route  is  a  case  of  being  "  carried  to  the  skies 
on  flowery  beds  of  ease,  while  others  sought  to  win  the 
prize  and  sailed  through  bloody  seas." 

Largely  through  the  influence  of  Jo-do  Shu  and  of 
those  sects  most  closely  allied  to  it,  the  technical  terms, 
peculiar  phraseology  and  vocabulary  of  Buddhismbe- 
came  part  of  the  daily  speech  of  the  Japanese.  When 
one  studies  their  language  he  finds  that  it  is  a  compli- 
cated organism,  including  within  itself  several  distinct 
systems.  Just  as  the  human  body  harmonizes  within 
itself  such  vastly  differing  organized  functions  as  the 
osseous,  digestive,  respiratory,  etc.,  so,  embedded  in 
what  is  called  the  Japanese  language,  there  are,  also,  a 
Chinese  vocabulary,  a  polite  vernacular,  one  system  of 
expression  for  superiors,  another  for  inferiors,  etc. 
Last  of  all,  there  is,  besides  a  peculiar  system  of  pro- 
nunciation taught  by  the  priests,  a  Buddhist  language, 
which  suggests  a  firmament  of  starry  and  a  prairie  of 
flowery  metaphors,  with  intermediate  deeps  of  space 
full  of  figurative  expressions. 

In  our  own  mother  tongue  we  have  something  simi- 
lar. The  dialect  of  Canaan,  the  importations  of  Juda- 
ism, the  irruptions  of  Hebraic  idioms,  phrases  and 
names  into  Puritanism,  and  the  ejaculations  of  the 
camp-meeting,  which  vein  and  color  our  English 
speech,  may  give  some  idea  of  the  variegated  strains 
which  make  up  the  Japanese  language.  Further,  the 
peculiar  nomenclature  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy  men,  is 
fully  paralleled  in  the  personal  names  of  priests  and 
even  of  laymen  in  Japan. 


266  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


Characteristics  of  the  Jo-do  Sect. 

Ho-nen  teaches  that  the  solution  of  abstract  ques- 
tions and  doctrinal  controversies  is  not  needed  as 
means  of  grace  to  promote  the  work  of  salvation. 
Whether  the  priests  and  their  followers  were  learned 
and  devout,  or  the  contrary,  mattered  little  as  regards 
the  final  result,  as  all  that  is  necessary  is  the  continual 
repetition  of  the  prayer  to  Amida. 

It  may  be  added  that  his  followers  practise  the  mas- 
ter's precepts  with  emphasis.  Their  incessant  pound- 
ing upon  wooden  fish-drums  and  bladder-shaped  bells 
during  their  public  exercises,  is  as  noisy  as  a  frontier 
camp-meeting.  The  rosary  is  a  notable  feature  in  the 
private  devotions  of  the  Buddhists,  but  the  Jo-do  sect 
makes  especial  use  of  the  double  rosary,  which  was  in- 
vented with  the  idea  of  being  manipulated  by  the  left 
hand  only ;  this  gave  freedom  to  the  right  hand,  "  fa- 
cilitating a  happy  combination  of  spiritual  and  secular 
duty."  At  funerals  of  believers  a  particular  ceremony 
was  exclusively  practised  by  this  sect,  at  which  the 
friends  of  the  deceased  sat  in  a  circle  facing  the  priest, 
making  as  many  repetitions  as  possible.7 

In  Mohammedan  countries,  blind  men,  who  cannot 
look  down  into  the  surrounding  gardens  or  house  tops 
at  the  pretty  women  in  or  on  them,  but  who  have  clear 
and  penetrating  voices,  are  often  chosen  as  muezzins  to 
utter  the  call  to  prayer  from  the  minarets.  On  much 
the  same  principle,  in  Old  Japan,  Jo -do  priests,  blind 
to  metaphysics,  but  handsome,  elegantly  dressed  and 
with  fine  delivery,  went  about  the  streets  singing  and 
intoning  prayers,  rich  presents  being  made  to  them, 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         267 

especially  by  the  ladies.  The  Jo-do  people  cultivate 
art  and  aesthetic  ornamentation  to  a  notable  degree. 
They  also  understand  the  art  of  fictitious  and  sensa- 
tional miracle-mongering.  It  is  said  that  Zen-do,  the 
famous  Chinese  founder  of  this  Chinese  sect,  when 
writing  his  commentary,  prayed  for  a  wonderful  exhi- 
bition of  supernatural  power.  Thereupon,  a  being  ar- 
rayed as  a  priest  of  dignified  presence  gave  him  in- 
struction on  the  division  of  the  text  in  his  first  volume. 
Hence  Zen-do  treats  his  own  work  as  if  it  were  the 
work  of  Buddha,  and  says  that  no  one  is  allowed  either 
to  add  or  to  take  away  even  a  word  or  sentence  of  the 
book. 

The  Pure  Land  is  the  western  world  wbeyfi  A  mi  da. 
lives.  It-is. perfectly  pure  and  five  from  faults.  Those 
who  wish  to  go  thither  will  certainly  be  re-born  there, 
but  otherwise  they  will  not.  This  world,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  the  effect  of  the  action  of  all  beings,  so  that 
even  those  who  do  not  wish  to  be  born  here  are  never- 
theless obliged  to  come.  This  world  is  called  the  Path 
of  Pain,  because  it  is  full  of  all  sorts  of  pains,  such  as 
birth,  old  age,  disease,  death,  etc.  This  is  therefore 
a  world  not  to  be  attached  to,  but  to  be  estranged 
and  separated  from.-  One  who  is  disgusted  with  this 
world,  and  who  is  filled  with  desire  for  that  world,  will 
after  death  be  born  there.  Not  to  doubt  about  these 
words  of  Buddha,  even  in  the  slightest  degree,  is  called 
deep  faith ;  but  if  one  entertains  the  least  doubts  he  will 
not  be  born  there.  Hence  the  saying  :  "  In  the  great 
sea  of  the  law  of  Buddha,  faith  is  the  only  means  to 
enter," 


268  TEE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


Salvation  Through  the  Merits  of  Another. 

In  this  absolute  trust  in  the  all-saving  power  of 
Amida  as  compared  with  the  ways  promulgated  before, 
we  see  the  emergence  of  the  Buddhist  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification bvfaith^  the  simplification  of  theology,  and  a 

Japanese 


technical  term,  "  tariki"  or  relying  upon  the  strength 
of  another,  renouncing  all  idea  of  ii-riki 


is  the  substance  of  the  Jo-do  doctrine  ;  but  the  expanded 
term  ta-riki  chiu  noji-riki,  or  "  self-effort  depending  on 
another,"  while  expressing  the  whole  dogma,  is  rather 
scornfully  applied  to  the  Jo-doists  by  the  men  of  the 
Shin  sect.  The  invocation  of  Amida  is  a  meritorious 
act  of  the  believer,  much  repetition  being  the  sub- 
stance of  this  combination  of  personal  and  vicarious 
work. 

Ho-nen,  after  making  his  discovery,  believing  it  pos- 
sible for  all  mankind  eventually  to  attain  to  perfect 
Buddhaship,  left,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Ten-dai  sect, 
which  represented  particularism  and  laid  emphasis  on 
the  idea  of  the  elect.  Ho-nen  tan^li^Ku^idhist^uni^, 
vfijwtlTgiyi.  BeHel^and  repetition  of  prayer  secure 
birth  into  the  Pure  Land  after  the  death  of  the  body, 
and  then  the  soul  moves  onward  toward  the  perfection 
of  Buddha-hood. 

The  Japanese  were  delighted  to  have  among  them 
a  genius  who  could  thus  Japanize  Buddhism,  and  J  r>- 
do  doctrine  went  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer. 
From  the  twelfth  century,  the  tendency  of  Japanese 
Buddhism  is  in  the  direction  of  universalism  and  de- 
mocracy. In  later  developments  of  Jo-do,  the  panthe- 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         269 

istic  tendencies  are  emphasized  and  the  syncretistic 
powers  are  enlarged.  While  mysticism  is  a  striking 
feature  of  the  sect  and  the  attainment  of  truth  is  by  the 
grace  of  Amida,  yet  the  native  Kami  of  Japan  are 
logically  accepted  as  avatars  of  Buddha.  History  had 
little  or  no  rights  in  the  case ;  philosophy  was  dicta- 
tor, and  that  philosophy  was  Ho-nen's.  Those  later 
Chinese  deities  made  by  personifying  attributes  or  ab- 
stract ideas,  which  sprang  up  after  the  introduction  of 
Buddhism  into  China,  are  also  welcomed  into  the 
temples  of  this  sect.  That  the  common  people  really 
believe  that  they  themselves  may  attain  Buddha-hood 
at  death,  and  enter  the  Pure  Land,  is  shown  in  the  fact 
that  their  ordinary  expression  for  the  dead  saint  is 
Hotoke — a  general  term  for  all  the  gods  that  were  once 
human.  Some  popular  proverbs  indicate  this  in  a 
form  that  easily  lends  itself  to  irreverence  and  mer- 
riment. 

The  whole  tendency  of  Japanese  Buddhism  and  its 
full  momentum  were  now  toward  the  development  of 
doctrine  even  to  startling  proportions.  Instead  of  the 
ancient  path  of  asceticism  and  virtue  with  agnosticism 
and  atheism,  we  see  the  means  of  salvation  put  now, 
and  perhaps  too  easily,  within  the  control  of  all.  The 
pathway  to  Paradise  was  made  not  only  exceedingly 
plain,  but  also  extremely  easy,  perhaps  even  ridicu- 
lously so ;  while  the  door  was  open  for  an  outburst 
of  new  and  local  doctrines  unknown  to  India,  or  even 
to  China.  The  rampant  vigor  with  which  Japanese 
Buddhism  began  to  absorb  everything  in  heaven,  earth 
and  sea,  which  it  could  make  a  worshipable  object  or 
cause  to  stand  as  a  Kami  or  deity  to  the  mind,  will  be 
seen  as  we  proceed.  The  native  proverb,  instead  of 


270  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

being  an  irreverent  joke,  stands  for  an  actual  truth  — 
"  Even  a  sardine's  head  may  become  an  object  of  wor- 
ship." 

"  Buddhism. 


We  now  look  at  what  foreigners  call  "  Reformed 
Buddhism,  which  some  even  imagine  has  been  bor- 
rowed from  Protestant  Christianity  —  notwithstanding 
that  it  is  centuries  older  than  the  Reformation  in 
Europe. 

Th^gbuaJiiluLi  or  True  Sect,  though  really  founded 
on  the  Jo-do^Soc^nes,  Is  separate  from  the  sect  of  the 
Pure  Land.  Yet,  besides  being  called  tVm  Shin  Pfon.  it 
is  also  spoken  of  as  the  Jo-do  Shin  Shu  or  the  True 
Sect  of  the  Pure  Land.  It  is  the  extreme  form  of  the 
Protestantism  of  Buddhism.  It  lays  emphasis  on  the 
Idea  of  salvation  wholly  throuaL-iLe-merits  of  another. 
but  it  also  paints  in  richer  tints  the  sensuous  delights 
of  the  Western  Paradise.  As  the  term  Pure  Land  is 
antithetical  to  that  of  the  Holy  Path,  so  the  word  Shin, 
or  True,  expresses  the  contrary  of  what  are  termed  the 
"  temporary  expedients." 

While  some  say  that  we  should  practise  good  works, 
bring  our  stock  of  merits  to  maturity,  and  be  born  in 
the  Pure  Land,  others  say  that  we  need  only  repeat 
the  name  of  Amida  in  order  to  be  born  in  the  Pure 
Land,  by  the  merit  produced  from  such  repetition. 
These  doctrines  concerning  repetitions,  however,  are 
all  considered  but  "  temporary  expedients."  So  also  is 
the  rigid  classification,  so  prominent  in  "  the  old  sects," 
of  all  beings  or  pupils  into  three  grades.  As  in  Islam 
or  Calvinism,  all  believers  stand  on  a  level.  Tn  fihlTi 
ran  the  Radical,  the  practices  even  of  Jo-tlo  seemed 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE          271 

complicated  and  difficult,  and  all  that  appeared  neces- 
sary to  Mm  was  faith  in  the  desire  of  Amida  to  bless 
To  Shinran,1'  faith  was  the  sole  saving  act. 
m  +Ho  povfffir  of  the  OriginalPrayer  of 
Amitabha  Buddha  with  the  whole  heart  and  give  up 
all  idea  oiji-riki  or  self -power,  is  called  the  truth.  This 
truth  is  the  doctrine  of  this  sect  of  Shin.10  In  a  word, 
not  synergism,  not  faith  andjworksj-  Trnf  fa.if.b.  only  is 
the  teaching  of  Slim  fcSim. 

Shinran,  the  founder  of  this  sect  in  Japan,  was  born 
A.D.  1173  and  died  in  the  year  1262.  He  was  very 
naturally  one  who  had  been  first  educated  in  the  Jo-do 
sect,  then  the  ruling  one  at  the  imperial  court  in  Kioto. 
Shall  we  call  him  a  Japanese  Luther,  because  of  his 
insistence  on  salvation  by  faith  only  ?  He  is  popu- 
larly believed  to  have  been  descended  from  one  of  the 
Shinto  gods,  being  on  his  father's  side  the  twenty-first 
in  the  line  of  generation.  On  his  mother's  side  he 
was  of  the  lineage  of  the  Minamoto  or  Genji,  a  clan 
sprung  from  Mikados  and  famous  during  centuries  for 
its  victorious  warriors.  ,Ho-nen  was  his  teacher,  and 
like  his  teacher,  Shinran  studied  at  the  great  monas- 
tery near  Kioto,  learning  first  the  doctrine  of  the  Ten- 
dai,  and  then,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  receiving  from 
Ho-nen  the  tenets  of  the  Jo-do  sect.  Shortly  after,  at 
thirty  years  of  age,  he  began  to  promulgate  his  doc- 
trines. Then  he  took  a  step  as  new  to  Buddhism,  as 
was  Luther's  union  with  Katharine  von  Bora,  to  the 
ecclesiasticism  of  his  time.  HQ  married  a  lady-of-the 
imperial  court,  named  Tamayori,  who  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Kuambaku  or  premier. 

Shinran  thus  taught  by  example,  if  not  formally  and 
by  written  precept,  that  marriage  was  honorable,  and 


272  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

that  celibacy  was  an  invention  of  the  priests  not  war- 
ranted by  primitive  Buddhism.  Penance,  fasting, 
prescribed  diet,  pilgrimages,  isolation  from  society 
whether  as  hermits  or  in  the  cloister,  and  generally 
amulets  and  charms,  are  all  tabooed  by  this  sect.  Mon- 
asteries imposing  life- vows  are  unknown  within  its  pale. 
Family  life  takes  the  place  of  monkish  seclusion.  De- 
vout prayer,  purity,  earnestness  of  life  and  trust  in 
Buddha  himself  as  the  only  worker  of  perfect  right- 
eousness, are  insisted  upon.  Morality  is  taught  to  be 
more  important  than  orthodoxy. 

In  practice,  the  Shin  sent,  flvffl  OTOTfl  ^*"1  ***A  .Tn-rln 
teat-lies  that  it  is  faith  in  Buddha  which  accom- 
plishes the  salvation  of  the  believer.  Instead  of  wait- 
ing for  death  in  order  to  come  under  the  protection  of 
Amida,  the  faithful  nouLis  at  once  received  into  the 
care  of  the  Boundlessly  Compassionate.  In  a  word, 
tVm  Rfrjp  sftci  believes  in  instantaneous  conversion  and 
sauctification.  Between  the  Roman  and  the  Reformed 
soteriology  of  Christendom,  was  Melancthonism  or  the 
cooperate  union  of  the  divine  and  the  human  will.  So, 
f.ViP  rflfl  Buddhism  prior  to  Shinran  taught  a  phase  of  syn- 
ergism,  or  the  union  of  faith  and  works.  Shinran,  in. .bis 
"Reformed"  Buddhism,  iffiflgjbiMjlie  simplicity  of  faith. 

So  also  in  regard  to  the  sacred  writings,  Shinran  op- 
posed  the  San-ron  school  and  the  three-grade  idea. 
The  scriptures  of  other  sects  are  in  Sanskrit  and  Chi- 
nese, which  only  the  learned  are  able  to  read.  The 
special  writings  of  Shinran  are  in  the  vernacular. 
Three  of  the  sutras,  also,  have  been  translated  into 
Japanese  and  expressed  in  the  kana  script.  Single- 
ness of  purpose  characterized  this  sect,  which  was 
often  called  Monto,  or  followers  of  the  gate,  in  refer- 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE          273 

ence  to  its  unity  of  organization,  and  the  opening  of 
the  way  to  all  by  Shinran  and  the  doctrine  taught  by 
him.  Yet,  lest  the  gate  might  seem  too  broad,  the 
Shin  teachers  insist  that  morality  is  as  important  as 
faith,  and  indeed  the  proof  of  it.  The  high  priests  of 
Shin  Shu  have  ever  held  a  high  position  and  wielded 
vast  influence  in  the  religious  development  of  the  peo- 
ple. While  the  temples  of  other  sects  are  built  in  se- 
questered places  among  the  hills,  those  of  Shin  Shu  are 
erected  in  the  heart  of  cities,  on  the  main  streets,  and 
at  the  centres  of  population, — the  priests  using  every 
means  within  their  power  to  induce  the  people  to  come 
to  them.  The  altars  are  on  an  imposing  scale  of  mag- 
nificence and  gorgeous  detail.  No  Roman  Catholic 
church  or  cathedral  can  outshine  the  splendor  of  these 
temples,  in  which  the  way  to  the  Western  Paradise  is 
made  so  clear  and  plain.  -  Another  name  for  the  sect 
is  Ikko. 

After  the  death  of  Shinran,  his  youngest  daughter 
and  one  of  his  grandsons  erected  a  monastery  near  his 
tomb  in  the  eastern  suburbs  of  Kioto,  to  which  the 
Mikado  gave  the  title  of  Hon-guanji,  or  Monastery  of 
the  Original  Vow.  This  was  in  allusion  to  the  vow 
made  by  Amida,  that  he  would  not  accept  Buddhaship 
except  under  the  condition  that  salvation  be  made 
attainable  for  all  who  should  sincerely  desire  to  be 
born  into  his  kingdom,  and  signify  their  desire  by  in- 
voking his  name  ten  times.11  It  is  upon  the  passage 
in  the  sutra  where  this  vow  is  recorded,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  sect  is  based.  Its  central  idea  is  that  man 
is  to  be  saved  by  faith  in  the  mercy  of  the  boundlessly 
compassionate  Amida,  and  not  by  works  or  vain  repe- 
titions. Within  our  own  time,  on  November  28, 1876, 
18 


274  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  present  reigning  Mikado  bestowed  upon  Shinran 
the  posthumous  title  Ken  -  shin  Dai  -  shi,  or  Great 
Teacher  of  the  Revelation  of  Truth. 


The  Protestants  of  Japanese  Buddhism. 

This  is  the  sect  which,  being  called  " Reformed" 
Buddhism  12  and  resembling  Protestantism  in  so  many 
points,  both  large  and  minute,  foreigners  think  has 
been  borrowed  or  imitated  from  European  Protestant- 
ism.13 As  matter  of  fact,  the  foundation  principles  of 
Shin-Shu  are  at  least  six  hundred  years  old.  They  are 
perfectly  clear  in  the  writings  of  the  founder,14  as  well 
as  in  those  of  his  successor  Rennio,15  who  wrote  the 
Ofumi  or  sacred  writings,  now  daily  read  by  the  dis- 
ciples of  this  denomination.  With  the  characteristic 
object  of  reaching  the  masses,  they  are  written,  as  we 
have  shown,  not  in  the  mixed  Chinese  and  Japanese 
characters,  but  in  the  common  script,  or  kana,  which 
all  the  people  of  both  sexes  can  read.  Within  the  last 
two  decades  the  Shin  educators  have  been  the  first  to 
organize  their  schools  of  learning  on  the  models  of 
those  in  Christendom,  so  that  their  young  men  might 
be  trained  to  resist  Shinto  or  Christianity,  or  to  meas- 
ure the  truth  in  either.  Their  new  temples  also  show 
European  influence  in  architecture  and  furniture. 
Liberty  of  thought  and  action,  and  incoercible  desire 
to  be  free  from  governmental,  traditional,  ultra-eccle- 
siastical, or  Shinto  influence — in  a  word,  protestant- 
ism in  its  pure  sense,  is  characteristic  of  the  great  sect 
founded  by  Shinran. 

Indeed  the  Shin  sect,  which  sprang  out  of  the  Jo-do, 
maintains  that  it  alone  professes  the  true  teaching  of 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE          275 

Ho-nen,  and  that  the  Jo-do  sect  has  wandered  from  the 
original  doctrines  of  its  founder.  Whereas^  the  Jo-do 
or  Pure  Land  sect  bfillPYP0  fllof  ATy>1'^Q -•""""  /»rmno  f^ 

meet  tho  soul  of  the   believer   on  its  separation  from 

the  body,  in  order  to  conduct  it  to  Paradise,  the  Shin       __ 

or  True  Sect  of  the  Pure  Land  believes  in  immediate 

salvation  a^dgajiciififiation.     It  preaches  that  as  soon 

— "^"*"^^  . 

as  a  man  believes  in  Amida  he  is  taken  by  him  under 

his  merciful  protection.  Some  might  denominate  these 
people  the  Methodists  of  Buddhism. 

One  good  point  in  their  Protestantism  is  their  teach- 
ing that  morality  is  of  equal  importance  with  faith. 
To  them  Buddha-hood  means  the  perfection  and  un- 
limitedness  of  wisdom  and  compassion.  "  Therefore," 
writes  one,  "  knowing  the  inability  of  our  own  power 
we  should  believe  simply  in  the  vicarious  Power  of  the 
Original  Prayer.  If  we  do  so,  we  are  in  correspond- 
ence with  the  wisdom  of  the  Buddha  and  share  his 
great  compassion,  just  as  the  water  of  rivers  becomes 
salt  as  soon  as  it  enters  the  sea.  For  this  reason  this 
is  called  the  faith  in  the  Other  Power." 

To  their  everlasting  honor,  also,  the  Shin  believers 
have  probably  led  all  other  Japanese  Buddhists  in  car- 
ing for  the  Eta,  even  as  they  probably  excel  in  preach- 
ing the  true  spiritual  democracy  of  all  believers,  yes, 
even  of  women.16  "According  to  the  earlier  and  gen- 
eral view  of  Buddhism,  women  are  condemned,  in 
virtue  of  the  pollution  of  their  nature,  to  look  forward 
to  rebirth  in  other  forms.  By  no  possibility  can  they, 
in  their  existence  as  women,  reach  the  higher  grades 
of  holiness  which  lead  to  Nirvana.  According  to  the 
Shin  Shu  system,  on  the  other  hand,  a  believing  woman 
may  hope  to  attain  the  goal  of  the  Buddhist  at  the 


276  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

close  of  her  present  life."  17  This  doctrine  seems  to  be 
founded  on  that  passage  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the 
Saddharma  Pundarika,  in  which  the  daughter  of  Sagara, 
the  Naga-king,  loses  her  sex  as  female  and  reappears  as 
a  Bodhisattva  of  male  sex.18 

The  Shin  sect  is  the  largest  in  Japan,  having  more 
than  twice  as  many  temples  as  any  four  of  the  great 
sects,  and  five  thousand  more  than  the  So-do  or  sub- 
sect  of  Jo-do,  which  is  the  next  largest ;  or,  over  nine- 
teen thousand  in  all.  It  is  also  supposed  to  be  one  of 
the  richest  and  most  powerful  of  all  the  Japanese  sects. 
In  reality,  however,  it  possesses  no  fixed  property,  and 
is  dependent  entirely  upon  the  voluntary  contributions 
of  its  adherents.  To-day,  it  is  probably  the  most  active 
of  them  all  in  education,  learning  and  missionary 
operations  in  Yezo,  China  and  Korea. 

Interesting  as  is  the  development  of  the  Jo-do  and 
Shin  sects,  which  became  popular  largely  through 
their  promulgation  of  dogmas  founded  on  the  West- 
ern Paradise,  we  must  not  forget  that  both  of  them 
preached  a  new  Buddha — not  the  real  figure  in  history, 
but  an  unhistoric  and  unreal  phantom,  the  creation 
and  dream  of  the  speculator  and  visionary.  Amida, 
the  personification  of  boundless  light,  is  one  of  the 
luxuriant  growths  of  a  sickly  scholasticism — a  hollow 
abstraction  without  life  or  reality.  Amidaism  is  utterly 
repudiated  by  many  Japanese  Buddhists,  who  give  no 
place  to  his  idol  on  their  altars,  and  reject  utterly  the 
teaching  as  to  Paradise  and  salvation  through  the 
merits  of  another. 

Yet  these  two  special  developments  by  natives, 
though  embodying  tendencies  of  the  Japanese  mind, 
did  not  reach  the  limit  to  which  Northern  Buddhism 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF   THE  JAPANESE          277 

was  to  go  in  those  almost  incredible  lengths,  which 
prompted  Professor  Whitney19  to  call  it  "the  high- 
faluting  school,"  and  which  we  have  seen  in  our  own 
time  under  the  cultivation  of  western  admirers. 


The  Nichiren  Sect. 

The  Japanese  mind  runs  to  pantheism  as  naturally 
as  an  unpruned  grape-vine  runs  to  fibre  and  leaves. 

When  Nichiren.  the  ultrfl.-pflirif|tilpi  pn^  nltm  firm" 
crafic"  bonze,  saw  the  light  in  A.D.  1222,  lie  was  des- 
tined to  bring  religion  not  only  down  to  man,  but 
even  down  to  the  beasts  and  to  the  mud.  TTe  founded 
the  Saddharma-Pundarika  sect,  now  called  Nichiren 
Shu. 

Born  at  Kominato,  near  the  mouth  of  Yedo  Bay, 
he  became  a  neophite  in  the  Shin-gon  sect  at  the  age 
of  twelve,  and  waa  ft^T^ttted  iyfo  the  priesthood  when 
but  fifteen  years  old.  Then  he  adopted  his  name, 
which  means  Sun-lotus,  because,  according  to  a  typical 
dream  very  common  in  Korea  and  Japan,  his  mother 
thought  that  she  had  conceived  by  the  sun  entering 
her  body.  Through  u  miracle,  he  acquired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  whole  Buddhist  canon,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  met  with  words,  which  he  converted  into 
that  formula  which  is  constantly  in  the  mouth  of  the 
members  of  the  Nichiren  sect,  Namu-myo-ho-ren-ge- 
kyo — "O,  the  Sutra  of  the  Lotus  of  the  Wonderful 
Law."  ^  HiSbJiistpry,  full  of  amazing  activity  and  of 
romantic  adventure,  is  surrounded  by  a  perfect  sunrise 
splendor,  or,  shall  we  say,  sunset  gorgeousness,  of 
mythology  and  fable.  The  scenes  of  his  life  are  mostly 
laid  in  the  region  of  the  modern  Tokio,  and  to  the  cul- 


278  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tivated  traveller,  its  story  lends  fascinating  charms  to 
the  landscape  in  the  region  of  Yedo  Bay.  Nichiren 
was  a  fiery  patriot,  and  ultra-democratic  in  his  sym- 
pathies. He  was  a  radical  believer  in  "Japan  for  the 
Japaiiese/'  He  was  an  ecclesiastical  'Sosln.  He  felt  that 
the  developments  of  Buddhism  already  made,  were  not 
sufficiently  comprehensive,  or  fully  suited  to  the  com- 
mon people.  So,  in  A.D.  1282,  he  founded  a  new  sect 
which  gradually  included  within  its  pantheon  all  possi- 
ble Buddhas,  and  canonized  pretty  nearly  all  the  saints, 
righteous  men  and  favorite  heroes  known  to  Dai  Nip- 
pon. Nichiren  first  made  Japan  the  centre  of  the. 
universe,  and  then  brought  religion  down  to  the  lowest. 
He  considered  that  the  period  in  which  he  lived  was 
the  latter  day  of  the  law,  and  that  all  creatureiL 


to  share  in  the  merit  of  Buddha-hood.  Only  the  origi- 
nal Buddha  is  the  real  moon  in  the  sky,  but  all  Buddh- 
as of  the  subordinate  states  are  like  the  images  of 
the  moon,  reflected  upon  the  waters.  All  these  differ- 
ent Buddhas,  be  they  gods  or  men,  beaetB,  birds  or 
snakes,  are  to  be  honored.  Indeed,  they  are  both  hon- 
ored and  worshipped  in  the  Nichiren  pantheon.  Be- 
sides the  historic  Buddha,  this  sect,  which  is  the  most 
idolatrous  of  all,  admits  as  objects  of  its  reverence  such 
personages  as  Nichiren,  the  founder ;  Kato  Kiyomasa, 
the  general  who  led  the  army  of  invasion  in  Korea  and 
was  the  persecutor  of  the  Christians ;  and  Shichimen — 
a  word  which  means  seven  points  of  the  compass  or 
seven  faces.  This  Shichimen  is  the  being  that  ap- 
peared to  Nichiren  as  a  beautiful  woman,  but  disap- 
peared from  his  sight  in  the  form  of  a  snake,  twenty 
feet  long,  covered  with  golden  scales  and  armed  with 
iron  teeth.  It  is  now  deified  under  the  name  meaning 


TEE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         279 

the  Great  God  of  the  Seven  Faces,  and  is  identified 
with  the  Hindoo  deity  Siva. 

Another  idol  usually  seen  in  the  Nichiren  temples  is 
Mioken.  Under  this  name  the  pole  star  is  worshipped, 
usually  in  the  form  of  a  Buddha  with  a  wheel  of  a 
Buddha  elect.  Standing  on  a  tortoise,  with  a  sword  in 
his  right  hand,  and  with  the  left  hand  half  open — a 
gesture  which  symbolizes  the  male  and  female  princi- 
ples in  the  physical  world,  and  the  intelligence  and  the 
law  in  the  spiritual  world — Mioken  is  a  striking  figure. 
Indeed,  the  Jist  of  glorified  animals  reminds  us  some-_ 
what  of  the  ancient  beast-worship  of  Egypt.  In  the 
Nichiren  hierology,  it  is  as  though  the  symbolical  fig- 
ures in  the  Book  of  Revelation  had  been  deified  and 
worshipped.  It  is  evident  that  all  the  creatures 
in  that  Buddhist  chamber  of  imagery,  the  Hokke  Kio, 
that  could  possibly  be  made  into  gods  have  received 
apotheosis.  The  very  book  itself  is  also  wor- 
shipped, for  the  Nichirenites  are  extreme  believers  in 
verbal  inspiration,  and  pay  divine  honors  to  each  jot 
and  tittle  of  the  sutra,  which  to  them  is  a  god.  They 
adore  also  the  triad  of  the  three  precious  ones,  the 
Buddha,  the  Rule  or  Discipline,  and  the  Organization ; 
or,  Being,  Law,  and  Church.  They  honor  Kwannon, 
" Eleven-faced,"  "Horse-headed,"  "Thousand-handed." 
The  idol  Kompira  was  formerly  believed  by  Buddhists 
to  represent  Avalokitesvara ;  but,  in  recent  times  he 
has  been  recognized,  detected  and  recaptured  by  the 
Shintoists  as  Kotohira.  The  goddess  Kishi,  and  that 
miscellaneous  assortment  or  group  known  as  the 
Seven  Patrons  of  Happiness,  which  form  a  sort  of  en- 
cyclopaedia or  museum  of  curiosities  derived  from  the 
cults  of  India,  China  and  Japan,  are  also  components 


280  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  the  amazing  menagerie  and  pantheon  of  this  sect, 
in  which  scholasticism  run  mad,  and  emotional  kind- 
ness to  animals  become  maudlin,  join  hands. 

The  Ultra-realism  of  Northern  Buddhism. 

Like  most  of  the  other  Japanese  sects,  the  Nichiren- 
ites  claim  that  their  principles  are  contained  in  the 
Hok-ke-kio,  which  is  considered  the  consummate  white 
flower  of  Buddhist  doctrine  and  literature.  This  is  the 
Japanese  name  for  that  famous  sutra,  the  Saddharma 
Pundarika,  so  often  mentioned  in  these  chapters  but 
a  thousand  -  fold  more  so  in  Japanese  literature. 
The  Ten-dai  and  the  Nichiren  sects  are  allied,  in  that 
both  lay  supreme  emphasis  upon  this  sutra ;  but  the 
former  interprets  it  with  an  intellectual,  and  the  latter 
with  an  emotional  emphasis.  ^ilnafl]jhiflftily,  th" 
two  bodies  have  much  in  common.  Outwardly  they 
are  very  far  apart.  One  has  but  to  read  their  favorite 
scripture,  to  see  the  norm  upon  which  the  gorgeous  art 
of  Japan  has  been  developed.  Probably  no  single 
book  in  the  voluminous  canon  of  the  Greater  Yehicle 
gives  one  so  masterful  a  key  to  Japanese  Buddhism. 
Its  pages  are  crowded  with  sensuous  descriptions  of 
all  that  is  attractive  to  both  the  reason  and  the  under- 
standing. Its  descriptions  of  Paradise  are  those  which 
would  suit  also  the  realistic  Mussulman.  Its  rhetoric 
and  visions  seem  to  be  those  of  some  oriental  De 
Quincey,  who,  out  of  the  dreams  of  an  opium-eater,  has 
made  the  law-book  of  a  religion.  Translated  into  mat- 
ter-of-fact Chinese,  none  better  than  Nichiren  knew 
how  to  present  its  realism  to  his  people. 

In  its  ethical  standards,  which  are  two,  this  sect,  like 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         231 

most  others,  prescribes  one  course  of  life  for  the  monk, 
which  is  difficult,  and  another  for  the  laity,  which  is 
easy.  TbA  P.miWI  /I™™™  ^  fi,  i  j  j  '  r  11irr 

universe,  including  not  only  gods  and  men,  but  animals, 
plants  and  the  very  mud  itself,  is  capable,  by  successive 

transmigrati™",  "f  n,t,Himifl  tn  TlmliU -iln'p      In  one 

sense,  Nichirenism  is  the  transfiguration  of  atheistic 
evolution.  In  its  teachings  there  are  also  two  forms  : 
the  one,  largely  in  symbol,  is  intended  to  attract  fol- 
lowers ;  the  other,  the  pure  truth,  is  employed  to  con- 
vert the  obstinately  ignorant,  against  their  wills.  As 
in  the  history  of  the  papal  organization  in  Europe,  a 
materialistic  interpretation  has  been  given  to  the  can- 
ons of  dogma  and  discipline. 

Contrarv  to  the  doctrine  of  those  sects  which  teach 


the  attainment  ot  ijJ&ivUtio'n'  Bolely  tnrougn  the  aid  of 
Amida,  or  Anottier,  the  Mchirenites  insist  that  it  is 

own  salvation, 
observing  the  law,  by  self-examination,  by  reflecting  on 
the  blessings  vouchsafed  to  the  members  of  this  elect 
and  orthodox  sect  and  by  constant  prayer.  They  con- 
sider themselves  as  in  tne  only  true  church,  and  their 
succession  to  the  priesthood,  the  only  valid  one.  The 
strict  Nichiren  churchmen  will  not  have  the  Shinto  gods 
in  their  household  shrines,  nor  will  they  intermarry 
among  the  sects.  The  Nichirenites  are  also  very  fond 
of  controversy,  and  their  language  in  speaking  of 
other  creeds  and  sects  is  not  that  characteristic  of 
the  gentle  Buddha.  The  people  of  this  sect  are  much 
given  to  the  belief  in  demoniacal  possession,  and  a 
considerable  part  of  the  duty  and  revenue-yielding 
business  of  the  Nichiren  priests  consists  in  exorcising 
the  foxes,  badgers  and  other  demons,  which  have  pos- 


282  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

sessed  subjects  who  are  generally  women  at  certain 
stages  of  illness  or  convalescence.  The  phenomena 
and  pathology  of  these  disorders  seein  to  be  allied  to 
those  of  hysteria  and  hypnotism. 

This  popular  sect  also  makes  greatest  use  of  charms, 
spells  and  amulets,  lays  great  store  on  pilgrimages,  and 
is  very  fond  of  noise -making  instruments  whether 
prayer-books  or  the  wooden  bells  or  drums  which  are 
prominent  features  in  their  temples  and  revival  meet- 
ings. In  one  sense  it  is  the  Salvation  Army  of  Bud- 
dhism, being  especially  powerful  in  what  strikes  the 
eye  and^ear.  The  Nichirenites  have  been  well  called 
the  Ranters  of  Buddhism.  Their  revival  meetings 
make  Bedlam  seem  silent,  and  reduce  to  gentle  mur- 
murs the  camp-meeting  excesses  with  which  we  are 
familial*  in  our  own  country.  They  are  the  most  sec- 
tarian of  all  sects.  Their  vocabulary  of  Billingsgate 
and  the  ribaldry  employed  by  them  even  against  their 
Buddhist  brethren,  cast  into  the  shade  those  of  Christian 
sectarians  in  their  fiercest  controversies.  "A  thou- 
sand years  in  the  lowest  of  the  hells  is  the  atonement 
prescribed  by  the  Nichirenites  for  the  priests  of  all 
other  sects."  When  the  Parliament  of  Eeligions  was 
called  in  Chicago,  the  successors  of  Nichiren,  with 
their  characteristic  high-church  modesty,  promptly 
sent  letters  to  America,  warning  the  world  against  all 
other  Japanese  Buddhists,  and  denouncing  especially 
those  coming  to  speak  in  the  Parliament,  as  misrepre- 
senting the  true  doctrines  of  Buddha. 

Doctrinal  Culmination. 

When  the  work  of  Nichiren  had  been  completed, 
and  his  realistic  pantheism  had  been  able  to  include 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         283 

within  its  great  receiver  and  processes  of  Buddha- 
making,  everything  from  gods  to  mud,  the  circle 
of  doctrine  was  complete.  Kobo's  leaven  had  now 
every  possible  lump  in  which  to  do  its  work.  All 
grades  of  men  in  Japan,  from  the  most  devout  and  in- 
tellectual to  the  most  ranting  and  fanatical,  could 
choose  their  sect.  Yet  it  may  be  that  Buddhism  in 
Nichiren's  day  was  in  danger  of  stagnation  and  formal- 
ism, and  needed  the  revival  which  this  fiery  bonze  gave 
it ;  for,  undoubtedly,  along  with  zeal  even  to  bigotry, 
came  fresh  life  and  power  to  the  religion.  This  in- 
vigoration  was  followed  by  the  mighty  missionary 
labors  of  the  last  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  which 
carried  Buddhism  out  to  the  northern  frontier  and  into 
Yezo.  Although,  from  time  to  time  minor  sects  were 
formed  either  limiting  or  developing  further  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  larger  parent  sects,  and  although,  even  as 
late  as  the  seventeenth  century,  a  new  subsect,  the  Oba- 
ku  of  Zen  Shu,  was  imported  from  China,  yet  no  fur- 
ther doctrinal  developments  of  importance  took  place ; 
not  even  in  presence  of  or  after  sixteenth  century 
Christianity  and  seventeenth  century  Confucianism. 

The  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  form  the 
golden  age  of  Japanese  Buddhism. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  feudal  system  had  split 
into  fragments  and  the  normal  state  of  the  country 
was  that  of  civil  war.  Sect  was  arrayed  against  sect, 
and  the  Shin  bonzes,  especially,  formed  a  great  military 
body  in  fortified  monasteries. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  came  the 
tremendous  onslaught  of  Portuguese  Christianity. 
Then  followed  the  militarism  and  bloody  persecutions 
of  Nobunaga. 


284  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

In  clashing  with  the  new  Confucianism  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  Buddhism  utterly  weakened  as  an  in- 
tellectual power.  Though  through  the  favor  of  the 
Yedo  shoguns  it  recovered  lands  and  wealth,  girded 
itself  anew  as  the  spy,  persecutor  and  professed  extir- 
pator of  Christianity,  and  maintained  its  popularity 
with  the  common  people,  it  was,  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  among  the  educated  Japanese,  as  good  as 
dead.  Modern  Confucianism  and  the  revival  of  Chi- 
nese learning,  resulted  in  eighteenth  century  scepti- 
cism and  in  nineteenth  century  agnosticism. 

The  New  Buddhism. 

In  our  day  and  time,  Japanese  Buddhism,  in  the 
presence  of  aggressive  Christianity,  is  out  of  harmony 
with  the  times,  and  the  needs  of  forty-one  millions  of 
awakened  and  inquiring  people;  and  there  are  deep 
searchings  of  heart.  Politically  disestablished  and  its 
landed  possessions  sequestrated  by  the  government,  it 
has  had,  since  1868,  a  history,  first  of  depression  and 
then  of  temporary  revival.  Now,  amid  much  mechan- 
ical and  external  activity,  the  employment  of  the  press, 
the  organization  of  charity,  of  summer  schools  of  "  the- 
ology," and  of  young  men's  and  other  associations 
copied  from  the  Christians,  it  is  endeavoring  to  keep 
New  Japan  within  its  pale  and  to  dictate  the  future. 
It  seeks  to  utilize  the  old  bottles  for  the  new  vintage. 

There  is,  however,  a  movement  discernible  which 
may  be  called  the  New  Buddhism,  and  has  not  only 
new  wine  but  new  wineskins.  It  is  democratic,  opti- 
mistic, empirical  or  practical ;  it  welcomes  women  and 
children ;  it  is  hospitable  to  science  and  every  form  of 


THE  BUDDHISM  OF  THE  JAPANESE         285 

truth.  It  is  catholic  iu  spirit  and  has  little  if  any  of 
the  venom  of  the  old  Buddhist  controvertists.  It  is 
represented  by  earnest  writers  who  look  to  natural  and 
spiritual  means,  rather  than  to  external  and  mechani- 
cal methods.  As  a  whole,  we  may  say  that  Japanese 
Buddhism  is  still  strong  to-day  in  its  grip  upon  the 
people.  Though  unquestionably  moribund,  its  death 
will  be  delayed.  Despite  its  apparent  interest  in,  and 
harmony  with,  contemporaneous  statements  of  science, 
it  does  not  hold  the  men  of  thought,  or  those  who 
long  for  the  spiritual  purification  and  moral  elevation 
of  Japan. 

Are  the  Japanese  eager  for  reform  ?  Do  they  pos- 
sess that  quality  of  emotion  in  which  a  tormenting 
sense  of  sin,  and  a  burning  desire  for  self-surrender  to 
holiness,  are  ever  manifest  ? 

Frankly  and  modestly,  we  give  our  opinion.  We 
think  not.  The  average  Japanese  man  has  not  come 
to  that  self-consciousness,  that  searching  of  heart,  that 
self-seeing  of  sin  in  the  light  of  a  Holy  God's  counte- 
nance which  the  gospel  compels.  Yet  this  is  exactly 
what  the  Japanese  need.  Only  Christ's  gospel  can 
give  it. 

The  average  man  of  culture  in  Dai  Nippon  has  to- 
day no  religion.  He  is  waiting  for  one.  What  shall 
be  the  issue,  in  the  contest  between  a  faith  that  knows 
no  personal  God,  no  Creator,  no  atonement,  no  gospel 
of  salvation  from  sin,  and  the  gospel  which  bids  man 
seek  and  know  the  great  First  Cause,  as  Father  and 
Friend,  and  proclaims  that  this  Infinite  Friend  seeks 
man  to  bless  him,  to  bestow  upon  him  pardon  and  holi- 
ness and  to  give  him  earthly  happiness  and  endless 
life  ?  Between  one  religion  which  teaches  personality 


286  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

in  God  and  in  man,  and  another  which  offers  only  a 
quagmire  of  impersonality  wherein  a  personal  god  and 
an  individual  soul  exist  only  as  the  jack-lights  of  the 
marsh,  mere  phosphorescent  gleams  of  decay,  who  can 
fail  to  choose?  Of  the  two  faiths,  which  shall  be 
victor  ? 


JAPANESE  BUDDHISM  IN  ITS  MISSIONAKY 
DEVELOPMENT 


"  The  heart  of  my  country,  the  power  of  my  country,  the  light  of  my 
country,  is  Buddhism." — Yatsubuchi,  of  Japan. 

<(  Buddhism  was  the  teacher  under  whose  instruction  the  Japanese  na- 
tion grew  up. " — Chamberlain. 

''  Buddhism  was  the  civilizer.  It  came  with  the  freshness  of  religious 
zeal,  and  religious  zeal  was  a  novelty.  It  came  as  the  bearer  of  civilization 
and  enlightenment." 

"  Buddhism  has  had  a  fair  field  in  Japan,  and  its  outcome  has  not  been 
elevating.  Its  influence  has  been  aesthetic  and  not  ethical  It  added  cult- 
ure and  art  to  Japan,  as  it  brought  with  itself  the  civilization  of  continen- 
tal Asia.  It  gave  the  arts,  and  more,  it  added  the  artistic  atmosphere. 
.  .  .  Reality  disappears.  l  This  fleeting  borrowed  world  '  is  all  mys- 
terious, a  dream  ;  moonlight  is  in  place  of  the  clear  hot  sun.  ...  It 
has  so  fitted  itself  to  its  surroundings  that  it  seems  indigenous." — George 
William  Knox. 

"The  Japanese  .  .  .  are  indebted  to  Buddhism  for  their  present 
civilization  and  culture,  their  great  susceptibility  to  the  beauties  of  nature, 
and  the  high  perfection  of  several  branches  of  artistic  industry." — Rein. 

"We  speak  of  God,  and  the  Japanese  mind  is  filled  with  idols.  We 
mention  sin,  and  he  thinks  of  eating  flesh  or  the  killing  of  insects.  The 
word  holiness  reminds  him  of  crowds  of  pilgrims  flocking  to  some  famous 
shrine,  or  of  some  anchorite  sitting  lost  in  religious  abstraction  till  his  legs 
rot  off.  He  has  much  error  to  unlearn  before  he  can  take  in  the  truth." — 
R.  E.  McAlpine. 

"  There  in  a  life  of  study,  prayer,  and  thought, 
Kenshin  became  a  saintly  priest — not  wide 
In  intellect  nor  broad  in  sympathies, 
For  such  things  come  not  from  the  ascetic  life ; 
But  narrow,  strong,  and  deep,  and  like  the  stream 
That  rushes  fervid  through  the  narrow  path 
Between  the  rocks  at  Nikko— so  he  grasped, 
Heart,  soul,  and  strength,  the  holy  Buddha's  Law 
With  no  room  left  for  doubt,  or  sympathy 
For  other  views." — Kenshin's  Vision. 

**  For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same, 
my  name  is  great  among  the  Gentiles ;  and  in  every  place  incense  is  offered 
unto  my  name,  and  a  pure  offering,  for  my  name  is  great  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, saith  the  LORD  of  hosts."— Malachi. 


CHAPTEK  X. 

JAPANESE  BUDDHISM  IN  ITS  MISSIONARY  DEVELOPMENT 

Missionary  Buddhism  the  Measure  of  Japan's  Civiliza- 
tion 

BROADLY  speaking,  the  history  of  Japanese  Buddh- 
ism in  its  missionary  development  is  the  history  of 
Japan.  Before  Buddhism  came,  Japan  was  pre-historic. 
We  know  the  country  and  people  through  very  scanty 
notices  in  the  Chinese  annals,  by  pale  reflections  cast 
by  myths,  legends  and  poems,  and  from  the  relics  cast 
up  by  the  spade  and  plough.  Chinese  civilization  had 
filtered  in,  though  how  much  or  how  little  we  cannot 
tell  definitely;  but  since  the  coming  of  the  Buddhist 
missionaries  in  the  sixth  century,  the  landscape  and 
the  drama  of  human  life  lie  before  us  in  clear  detail. 
Speaking  broadly  again,  it  may  be  said  that  almost 
from  the  time  of  its  arrival,  Buddhism  became  on  its 
active  side  the  real  religion  of  Japan — at  least,  if  the 
word  "religion"  be  used  in  a  higher  sense  than  that 
connoted  by  either  Shinto  or  Confucianism.  Though 
as  a  nation  the  Japanese  of  the  Meiji  era  are  grossly 
forgetful  of  this  fact,  yet,  as  Professor  Chamberlain 
says,1  "All  education  was  for  centuries  in  Buddhist 
hands.  Buddhism  introduced  art;  introduced  medU> 
cine ;  created  the  folk-lore  of  the  country  ;  created  its 
dramatic  poetry ;  deeply  influenced  politics,  and  every 
19 


290  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

sphere  of  social  and  intellectual  activity;  in  a  word, 
Buddhism  was  the  teacher  under  whose  instruction 
the  Japanese  nation  grew  up." 

For  many  centuries  all  Japanese,  except  here  and 
there  a  stern  Shintoist,  or  an  exceptionally  dogmatic 
Confucian,  have  acknowledged  these  patent  facts,  and 
from  the  emperor  to  the  eta,  glorified  in  them.  It 
was  not  until  modern  Confucian  philosophy  entered 
the  Mikado's  empire  in  the  seventeenth  century,  that 
hostile  criticism  and  polemic  tenets  denounced  Buddh- 
ism, and  declared  it  only  fit  for  savages.  This  bitter 
denunciation  of  Buddhism  at  the  lips  and  hands  of 
Japanese  who  had  become  Chinese  in  mind,  was  all  the 
more  inappropriate,  because  Buddhism  had  for  over  a 
thousand  years  acted  as  the  real  purveyor  and  dis- 
perser  of  the  Confucian  ethics  and  culture  in  Japan. 
Such  denunciation  came  with  no  better  grace  from  the 
Yedo  Confucianists  than  from  the  Shinto  revivalists, 
like  Motoori,  who,  while  execrating  everything  Chin- 
ese, failed  to  remember  or  impress  upon  his  country- 
men the  fact,  that  almost  all  which  constituted  Japan- 
ese civilization  had  been  imported  from  the  Middle 
Kingdom. 

Buddhism,  in  its  purely  doctrinal  development,  seems 
to  be  rather  a  system  of  metaphysics  than  a  true  re- 
ligion, being  a  conglomeration,  or  rather  perhaps  an 
agglomeration,  of  all  sorts  of  theories  relating  to  the 
universe  and  its  contents.  Its  doctrinal  and  metaphys- 
ical side,  however,  is  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
its  popular  and  external  features,  for  in  its  mission- 
ary development  Buddhism  may  be  called  a  system  of 
national  improvement.  The  history  of  its  propagation, 
in  the  land  farthest  east  from  its  cradle,  is  not  only  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    291 

outline  of  the  history  of  Japanese  civilization,  but  is 
nearly  the  whole  of  it. 

Pre-Buddliistic  Japan. 

It  is  not  perhaps  difficult  to  reconstruct  in  imagina- 
tion the  landscape  of  Japan  in  pre-Buddhistic  days. 
Certainly  we  may,  with  some  accuracy,  draw  a  con- 
trast between  the  appearance  of  the  face  of  the  earth 
then  and  now.  Supposing  that  there  were  as  many  as 
a  million  or  two  of  souls  in  the  Japanese  Archipelago 
of  the  sixth  century — the  same  area  which  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  contains  over  forty-one  millions — we 
can  imagine  only  here  and  there  patches  of  cultivated 
fields,  or  terraced  gullies.  There  were  no  roads  ex- 
cept paths  or  trails.  The  horse  was  probably  yet  a 
curiosity  to  the  aborigines,  though  well  known  to  the 
sons  of  the  gods.  Sheep  and  goats  then,  as  now,  were 
unknown.  The  cow  and  the  ox  were  in  the  land,  but 
not  numerous.2  In  architecture  there  was  probably 
little  but  the  primeval  hut.  Tools  were  of  the  rudest 
description ;  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  primitive  Japan- 
ese were  able  to  work  iron  and  apply  it  to  many  uses. 
There  were  other  metals,  though  the  tell-tale  etymol- 
ogy of  their  names  in  Japanese  metallurgy,  as  in  so 
many  other  lines  of  industry  and  articles  of  daily  use, 
points  to  a  Chinese  origin.  It  is  the  almost  incredi- 
ble fact  that  the  Japanese  man  or  woman  wore  on  the 
person  neither  gold  nor  silver  jewelry.  In  later  times, 
decoration  was  added  to  the  sword  hilt  and  pins  were 
thrust  in  the  hair. 

Possibly  a  prejudice  against  metal  touching  the  skin, 
such  as  exists  in  Korea,  may  account  for  this  absence 
of  jewelry,  though  silver  was  not  discovered  until  A.D. 


292  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

675,  or  gold  until  A.D.  749.  The  primitive  Japanese, 
however,  did  wear  ornaments  of  ground  and  polished 
stone,  and  these  so  numerously  as  to  compel  contrast 
with  the  severer  tastes  of  later  ages.  Some  ot  these 
magatama — curved  jewels  or  perforated  cylinders — 
were  made  of  very  hard  stone  which  requires  skill  to 
drill,  cut  and  polish.  Among  the  substances  used  was 
jade,  a  mineral  found  only  in  Cathay.3  Indeed,  we 
cannot  follow  the  lines  of  industry  and  manufactures, 
of  personal  adornment  and  household  decoration,  of 
scientific  terms  and  expressions,  of  literary,  intellectual 
and  religious  experiment,  without  continually  finding 
that  the  Japanese  borrowed  from  Chinese  storehouses. 
Possibly  their  debt  began  at  the  time  of  the  alleged 
conquest  of  Korea 4  in  the  third  century. 

In  Japanese  life,  as  it  existed  before  the  introduction 
of  Buddhism,  there  was,  with  barbaric  simplicity,  a 
measure  of  culture  somewhat  indeed  above  the  level  of 
savagery,  but  probably  very  little  that  could  be  ap- 
praised beyond  that  of  the  Iroquois  Indians  in  the 
days  of  their  Confederacy.  For  though  granting  that 
there  were  many  interesting  features  of  art,  industry, 
erudition  and  civilization  which  have  been  lost  to  the 
historic  memory,  and  that  the  research  of  scholars  may 
hereafter  discover  many  things  now  in  oblivion ;  yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain  that  much  of  what  has 
long  been  supposed  to  be  of  primitive  Japanese  origin, 
and  existent  before  the  eighth  century,  has  been  more 
or  less  infused  or  enriched  with  Chinese  elements,  or 
has  been  imported  directly  from  India,  or  Persia,5  or 
has  crystallized  into  shape  from  the  mixture  of  things 
Buddhistic  and  primitive  Japanese. 

Apart  from  all  speculation,  we  know  that  in  the  train 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     293 

of  the  first  missionaries  came  artisans,  and  instructors 
in  every  line  of  human  industry  and  achievement,  and 
that  the  importation  of  the  inventions  and  appliances 
of  "  the  West " — the  West  then  being  Korea  and 
China,  and  the  "Far  West,"  India— was  proportion- 
ately as  general,  as  far-reaching,  as  sensational,  as  elec- 
tric in  its  effects  upon  the  Japanese  minds,  as,  in  our 
day,  has  been  the  introduction  of  the  modern  civiliza- 
tion of  Europe  and  the  United  States.6 

The  Purveyors  of  Civilization. 

The  Buddhist  missionaries,  in  their  first  "  enthusi- 
asm of  humanity,"  were  not  satisfied  to  bring  in  their 
train,  art,  medicine,  science  and  improvements  of  all 
sorts,  but  they  themselves,  being  often  learned  and 
practical  men,  became  personal  leaders  in  the  work  of 
civilizing  the  country.  In  travelling  up  and  down  the 
empire  to  propagate  their  tenets,  they  found  out  the 
necessity  of  better  roads,  and  accordingly,  they  were 
largely  instrumental  in  having  them  made.  They  dug 
wells,  established  ferries  and  built  bridges.7  They 
opened  lines  of  communication ;  they  stimulated  traffic 
and  the  exchange  of  merchandise ;  they  created  the  com- 
merce between  Japan  and  China;  and  they  acted  as 
peacemakers  and  mediators  in  the  wars  between  the 
Japanese  and  Koreans.  For  centuries  they  had  the 
monopoly  of  high  learning.  In  the  dark  middle  ages 
when  civil  war  ruled,  they  were  the  only  scholars, 
clerks,  diplomatists,  mediators  and  peacemakers. 

Japanese  diet  became  something  new  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  priests.  The  bonzes  taught  the  wicked- 
ness of  slaughtering  domestic  animals,  and  indeed, 


294:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  wrong  of  putting  any  living  thing  to  death,  so  that 
kindness  to  animals  has  become  a  national  trait.  To 
this  day  it  may  be  said  that  Japanese  boys  and  men 
are,  at  least  within  the  limits  of  their  light,  more  tender 
and  careful  with  all  living  creatures  than  are  those  of 
Christendom.8  The  bonzes  improved  the  daily  fare  of 
the  people,  by  introducing  from  Korea  and  China  ar- 
ticles of  food  hitherto  unknown.  They  brought  over 
new  seeds  and  varieties  of  vegetables  and  trees. 
Furthermore,  necessity  being  the  mother  of  invention, 
not  a  few  of  the  shorn  brethren  made  up  for  the  pro- 
hibition of  fish  and  flesh,  by  becoming  expert  cooks. 
They  so  exercised  their  talents  in  the  culinary  art  that 
their  results  on  the  table  are  proverbial.  Especially 
did  they  cultivate  mushrooms,  which  in  taste  and 
nourishment  are  good  substitutes  for  fish. 

The  bonzes  were  lovers  of  beauty  and  of  symbolism. 
They  planted  the  lotus,  and  the  monastery  ponds  be- 
came seats  of  splendor,  and  delights  to  the  eye.  Their 
teachings,  metaphysical  and  mystical,  poetical  and 
historical,  scientific  and  literary,  created,  it  may  be 
said,  the  Japanese  garden,  which  to  the  refined  imagi- 
nation contains  far  more  than  meets  the  eye  of  the 
alien.9  Indeed,  the  oriental  imitations  in  earth,  stone, 
water  and  verdure,  have  a  language  and  suggestion  far 
beyond  what  the  usual  parterres  and  walks,  borders 
and  lines,  fountains  and  statuary  of  a  western  garden 
teach.  It  may  be  said  that  our  "  language  of  flowers  " 
is  more  luxuriant  and  eloquent  than  theirs  ;  yet  theirs 
is  very  rich  also,  besides  being  more  subtle  in  sugges- 
tion. The  bonzes  instilled  doctrine,  not  only  by  ser- 
mons, books  and  the  emblems  and  furniture  of  the 
temples,  but  they  also  taught  dogma  and  ethics  by  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    295 

flower-ponds  and  plots,  by  the  artificial  landscape,  and 
by  outdoor  symbolism  of  all  kinds.  To  Buddhism  our 
thanks  are  due,  for  the  innumerable  miniature  conti- 
nents, ranges  of  mountains,  geographical  outlines  and 
other  horticultural  allusions  to  their  holy  lands  and 
spiritual  history,  seen  beside  so  many  houses,  temples 
and  monasteries  in  Japan.  In  their  floral  art,  no  peo- 
ple excels  the  Japanese  in  making  leaf  and  bloom  teach 
history,  religion,  philosophy,  aesthetics  and  patrio- 
tism. 

Not  only  around  the  human  habitation,10  but  within 
it,  the  new  religion  brought  a  marvellous  change.  In- 
stead of  the  hut,  the  dwelling-house  grew  to  spacious 
and  comfortable  proportions,  every  part  of  the  Japan- 
ese house  to-day  showing  to  the  cultured  student, 
especially  to  one  familiar  with  the  ancient  poetry,  the 
lines  of  its  origin  and  development,  and  in  the  larger 
dwellings  expressing  a  wealth  of  suggestion  and  mean- 
ing. The  oratory  and  the  kami-dana  or  shelf  holding 
the  gods,  became  features  in  the  humblest  dwelling. 
Among  the  well-to-do  there  were  of  course  the  gilded 
ancestral  tablets  and  the  worship  of  progenitors,  in 
special  rooms,  with  imposing  ritual  and  equipment, 
with  which  Buddhism  did  not  interfere;  but  on  the 
shelf  over  the  door  of  nearly  every  house  in  the  land, 
along  with  the  emblems  of  the  kami,  stood  images 
representing  the  avatars  of  Buddha.11  There,  the  light 
ever  burned,  and  there,  offerings  of  food  and  drink  were 
thrice  daily  made.  Though  the  family  worship  might 
vary  in  its  length  and  variety  of  ceremony,  yet  even  in 
the  home  where  no  regular  system  was  followed,  the 
burning  lights  and  the  stated  offering  made,  called  the 
mind  up  to  thoughts  higher  than  the  mere  level  of  pro- 


296  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

viding  for  daily  wants.  The  visitation  of  the  priests 
in  time  of  sorrow,  or  of  joy,  or  for  friendly  converse, 
made  religion  sweetly  human.12 

Outwardly  the  Buddhist  architecture  made  a  pro- 
found change  in  the  landscape.  With  a  settled  relig- 
ion requiring  gorgeous  ceremonial,  the  chanting  of 
liturgies  by  large  bodies  of  priests  and  the  formation 
of  monasteries  as  centres  of  literary  and  religious  ac- 
tivity, there  were  required  stability  and  permanence 
in  the  imperial  court  itself.  While,  therefore,  the 
humble  village  temples  arose  all  over  the  country, 
there  were  early  erected,  in  the  place  where  the  court 
and  emperor  dwelt,  impressive  religious  edifices.13 
The  custom  of  migration  ceased,  and  a  fixed  spot  se- 
lected as  the  capital,  remained  such  for  a  number  of 
generations,  until  finally  Heian-jo  or  the  place  of  peao*, 
later  called  Kioto,  became  the  "  Blossom  Capital  "  and 
the  Sacred  City  for  a  thousand  years.  At  Nara,  where 
flourished  the  first  six  sects  introduced  from  Korea, 
were  built  vast  monasteries,  temples  and  images,  and 
thence  the  influence  of  civilization  and  art  radiated. 
From  the  first,  forgetting  its  primitive  democracy 
and  purely  moral  claims,  Buddhism  lusted  for  power 
in  the  State.  As  early  as  A.D.  624,  various  grades 
were  assigned  to  the  priesthood  by  the  government.14 
The  sects  eagerly  sought  and  laid  great  stress  upon 
imperial  favor.  To  this  day  they  keenly  enjoy  the 
canonization  of  their  great  teachers  by  letters  patent 
from  the  Throne. 

Ministers  of  Art. 

On  the  establishment  of  the  imperial  capital,  at 
Kioto,  toward  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  we  find 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    297 

still  further  development  and  enlargement  of  those 
latent  artistic  impulses  with  which  the  Heavenly 
Father  endowed  his  Japanese  child.  That  capacity 
for  beauty,  both  in  appreciation  and  expression,  which 
in  our  day  makes  the  land  of  dainty  decoration  the  re- 
sort of  all  those  who  would  study  oriental  art  in  unique 
fulness  and  decorative  art  in  its  only  living  school — a 
school  founded  on  the  harmonious  marriage  of  the 
people  and  the  nature  of  the  country — is  discernible 
from  quite  early  ages.  The  people  seem  to  have  re- 
sponded gladly  to  the  calls  for  gifts  and  labor.  The 
direction  from  which  it  is  supposed  all  evils  are  likely 
to  come  is  the  northeast ;  this  special  point  of  the 
compass  being  in  pan-Asian  spiritual  geography  the 
focus  of  all  malign  influences.  Accordingly,  the  Mika- 
do Kwammu,  in  A.D.  788,  built  on  the  highest  moun- 
tain called  Hiyei  a  superb  temple  and  monastery,  giv- 
ing it  in  charge  of  the  Ten-dai  sect,  that  there  should 
ever  be  a  bulwark  against  the  evil  that  might  other- 
wise swoop  upon  the  city.  Here,  as  on  castellated 
walls,  should  stand  the  watchman,  who,  by  the  recita- 
tion of  the  sacred  liturgies,  would  keep  watch  and 
ward.  In  course  of  time  this  great  mountain  became 
a  city  of  three  thousand  edifices  and  ten  thousand 
monks,  from  which  the  droning  of  litanies  and  the 
chanting  of  prayers  ascended  daily,  and  where  the 
chief  industries  were,  the  counting  of  beads  on  rosa- 
ries and  the  burning  of  incense  before  the  altars.  This 
was  in  the  long  bright  day  of  a  prosperity  which  has 
been  nourished  by  vast  sums  obtained  from  the  gov- 
ernment and  nobles.  One  notes  the  contrast  at  the 
end  of  our  century,  when  "  disestablished  "  as  a  reli- 
gion and  its  bonzes  reduced  to  beggary,  Hiyei-san 


298  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

is  used  as  the  site  of  a  Summer  School  of  Christian 
Theology. 

Along  with  the  blossoming  of  the  lotus  in  every  part 
of  the  empire,  bloomed  the  grander  flowers  of  sculpt- 
ure, of  painting  and  of  temple  architecture.  It  was 
because  of  the  carpenter's  craft  in  building  temples 
that  he  won  his  name  of  Dai-ku,  or  the  great  workman. 
The  artificers  of  the  sunny  islands  cultivated  an  ambi- 
tion, not  only  to  equal  but  to  excel,  their  continental 
brethren  of  the  saw  and  hammer.  Yet  the  carpenter 
was  only  the  leader  of  great  hosts  of  artisans  that 
were  encouraged,  of  craftsmen  that  were  educated  and 
of  industries  that  were  called  into  being  by  the  spread 
of  Buddhism.15  It  was  not  enough  that  village  temples 
and  town  monasteries  should  be  built,  under  an  impulse 
that  meant  volumes  for  the  development  of  the  country. 
The  ambitious  leaders  chose  sightly  spots  on  moun- 
tains whence  were  lovely  vistas  of  scenery,  on  which 
to  erect  temples  and  monasteries,  while  it  seemed  to 
be  their  further  ambition  to  allow  no  mountain  peak 
to  be  inaccessible.  With  armies  of  workmen,  sup- 
ported by  the  contributions  of  the  faithful  who  had 
been  aroused  to  enthusiasm  by  the  preaching  of  the 
bonzes,  great  swaths  were  cut  in  the  forest ;  abundant 
timber  was  felled ;  rocky  plateaus  were  levelled ;  and 
elegant  monastic  edifices  were  reared,  soon  to  be  filled 
with  eager  students,  and  young  men  in  training  for  the 
priesthood. 

Whether  the  pilgrimage 16  be  of  Shinto  or  of  Buddh- 
ist origin,  or  simply  a  contrivance  of  human  nature  to 
break  the  monotony  of  life,  we  need  not  discuss.  It  is 
certain  that  if  the  custom  be  indigenous,  the  imported 
faith  adopted,  absorbed  and  enlarged  it.  The  pere- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     299 

grinations  made  to  the  great  temples  and  to  the  moun- 
tain tops,  being  meritorious  performances,  soon  filled 
the  roads  with  more  or  less  devout  travellers.  In  thus 
finding  vent  for  their  piety,  the  pilgrims  mingled  sanc- 
tificatiou  with  recreation,  enjoying  healthful  holidays, 
and  creating  trade  with  varied  business,  commercial 
and  commissarial  activities,  while  enlarging  also  their 
ideas  and  learning  something  of  geography.  Thus,  in 
the  course  of  time,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  Japan  is  a 
country  of  which  almost  every  square  mile  is  known, 
while  it  is  well  threaded  with  paths,  banded  with  roads, 
and  supplied  to  a  remarkable  extent  with  handy  vol- 
umes of  description  and  of  local  history.17  Her  people 
being  well  educated  in  their  own  lore  and  local  tradi- 
tions, possessed  also  a  voluminous  literature  of  guide- 
books and  cyclopedias  of  information.  The  devotees 
were,  withal,  well  instructed  and  versed  in  a  code  of 
politeness  and  courtesy,  as  pilgrimage  and  travel  be- 
came settled  habits  of  a  life.  As  a  further  result, 
the  national  tongue  became  remarkably  homogeneous. 
Broadly  speaking,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Japanese 
language,  unlike  the  Chinese  in  this  as  it  is  in  almost 
every  other  point,  has  very  little  dialectic  variation.18 
Except  in  some  few  remote  eddies  lying  ontside  the 
general  currents,  there  is  a  uniform  national  speech. 
This  is  largely  owing  to  that  annual  movement  of  pil- 
grims in  the  summer  months  especially,  habitual  dur- 
ing many  centuries. 

Buddhism  coming  to  Japan  by  means  of  the  Great 
Vehicle,  or  with  the  features  of  the  Northern  develop- 
ment, was  the  fertile  mother  of  art.  In  the  exterior 
equipment  of  the  temple,  instead  of  the  Shinto  thatch, 
the  tera  or  Buddhist  edifice  called  for  tiles  on  its 


300  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

sweeping  roof,  with  ornamental  terra-cotta  at  the  end 
of  its  imposing  roof-ridge,  or  for  sheets  of  copper  soon 
to  be  made  verdant,  then  sombre  and  then  sable  by 
age  and  atmosphere.  Outwardly  the  edifice  required 
the  application  of  paint  and  lacquer  in  rich  tints,  its 
recurved  roof-edges  gladly  welcoming  the  crest  and 
monogram  of  the  feudal  prince,  and  its  railings  and 
stairways  accepting  willingly  the  bronze  caps  and 
ornaments.  In  front  of  its  main  edifice  was  the  im- 
posing gateway  with  proportions  almost  as  massive  as 
the  temple  itself,  with  prodigal  wealth  of  curiously 
fitted  and  richly  carved,  painted  and  gilded  supports 
and  morticings,  with  all  the  fancies  and  adornments 
of  the  carpenter's  art,  and  having  as  its  frontlet  and 
blazon  the  splendidly  gilt  name,  style  or  title.  Often 
these  wero  impressive  to  eye  and  mind,  to  an  extent 
which  the  terse  Chinese  or  curt  monosyllables  could 
scarcely  suggest  to  an  alien.19  The  number,  forms  and 
positions  of  the  various  parts  of  the  temple  easily  lent 
themselves  to  the  expression  of  the  elaborate  symbol- 
ism of  the  India  faith. 

Resemblances  between  Buddhism  and  Christianity. 

Within  the  sacred  edifice  everything  to  strike  the 
senses  was  lavishly  displayed.  The  passion  of  the 
East,  as  opposed  to  Greek  simplicity,  is  for  decoration  ; 
yet  in  Japan,  decorative  art,  though  sometimes  bursting 
out  in  wild  profusion  or  running  to  unbridled  lengths, 
was  in  the  main  a  regulated  mass  of  splendor  in  which 
harmony  ruled.  Differing  though  the  Buddhist  sects 
do  in  their  temple  furniture  and  altar  decorations,  they 
are,  most  of  them,  so  elaborately  full  in  their  equip- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    301 

ment  as  to  suggest  repeatedly  the  similarity  between 
the  Koman  Catholic  organization,  altars,  vestments  and 
ritual,  and  those  of  Buddhism,  and  remarks  on  this 
point  seem  almost  commonplace.  Almost  everything 
in  Eoman  Catholicism  is  found  in  Buddhism,20  and  one 
may  even  say,  vice  versa,  at  least  in  things  exterior. 
We  take  the  liberty  of  transcribing  here  a  passage 
from  the  chapter  entitled  "  Christianity  and  Foreign- 
ers" in  The  Mikado's  Empire,  written  twenty  years 
ago. 

"Furthermore,  the  transition  from  the  religion  of  India  to 
that  of  Borne  was  extremely  easy.  The  very  idols  of  Buddha 
served,  after  a  little  alteration  with  the  chisel,  for  images  of 
Christ.  The  Buddhist  saints  were  easily  transformed  into  the 
Twelve  Apostles.  The  Cross  took  the  place  of  the  forit.  It 
was  emblazoned  on  the  helmets  and  banners  of  the  warriors,  and 
embroidered  on  their  breasts.  The  Japanese  soldiers  went  forth 
to  battle  like  Christian  crusaders.  In  the  roadside  shrine 
Kuanon,  the  Goddess  of  Mercy,  made  way  for  the  Virgin,  the 
mother  of  God.  Buddhism  was  beaten  with  its  own  weapons. 
Its  own  artillery  was  turned  against  it.  Nearly  all  the  Christian 
churches  were  native  temples,  sprinkled  and  purified.  The 
same  bell,  whose  boom  had  so  often  quivered  the  air  announcing 
the  orisons  and  matins  of  paganism,  was  again  blessed  and 
sprinkled,  and  called  the  same  hearers  to  mass  and  confession  ; 
the  same  lavatory  that  fronted  the  temple  served  for  holy  water 
or  baptismal  font ;  the  same  censer  that  swung  before  Amida 
could  be  refilled  to  waft  Christian  incense ;  the  new  convert 
could  use  unchanged  his  old  beads,  bells,  candles,  incense,  and 
all  the  paraphernalia  of  his  old  faith  in  celebration  of  the  new. 

"Almost  everything  that  is  distinctive  in  the  Roman  form 
of  Christianity  is  to  be  found  in  Buddhism  :  images,  pict- 
ures, lights,  altars,  incense,  vestments,  masses,  beads,  wayside 
shrines,  monasteries,  nunneries,  celibacy,  fastings,  vigils,  re- 
treats, pilgrimages,  mendicant  vows,  shorn  heads,  orders, 
habits,  uniforms,  nuns,  convents,  purgatory,  saintly  and  priest- 


302  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ly  intercession,  indulgences,  works  of  supererogation,  pope, 
archbishops,  abbots,  abbesses,  monks,  neophytes,  relics  and 
relic-worship,  exclusive  burial-ground,  etc.,  etc.,  etc."21 

Nevertheless,  these  resemblances  are  almost  wholly 
superficial,  and  have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  genu- 
ine religion.  Such  matters  are  of  aesthetic  and  of  com- 
mercial, rather  than  of  spiritual,  interest.  They  concern 
priestcraft  and  vulgar  superstition  rather  than  truth 
and  righteousness.  "  In  point  of  dogma  a  whole  world 
of  thought  separates  Buddhism  from  every  form  of 
Christianity.  Knowledge,  enlightenment,  is  the  condi- 
tion of  Buddhistic  grace,  not  faith.  Self-perfectionment 
is  the  means  of  salvation,  not  the  vicarious  sufferings  of 
a  Redeemer.  Not  eternal  life  is  the  end  and  active 
participation  in  unceasing  prayer  and  praise,  but 
absorption  into  Nirvana  (Jap.  Nehan),  practical  anni- 
hilation." a  At  certain  points,  the  metaphysic  of 
Buddhism  is  so  closely  like  that  of  Christian  theology, 
that  a  connection  on  reciprocal  exchange  of  ideas  is 
not  only  possible  but  probable.  In  their  highest  think- 
ing,23 the  sincere  Christian  and  Buddhist  approach  each 
other  in  their  search  after  truth. 

The  key-word  of  Buddhism  is  Ingwa,  which  means 
law  or  fate,  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  in  which  man 
is  found,  atheistic  "evolution  applied  to  ethics,"  the 
grinding  machinery  of  a  universe  in  which  is  no  Crea- 
tor-Father, no  love,  pity  or  heart.  If  the  cry  of  the 
human  spirit  has  compelled  the  makers  of  Buddhist 
theology  to  furnish  a  goddess  of  mercy,  it  is  but  one 
subordinate  being  among  many.  If  a  boundlessly 
compassionate  Amida  is  thought  out,  it  is  an  imagin- 
ary being.  The  symbol  of  Buddhism  is  the  wheel  of 
the  law,  which  revolves  as  mercilessly  as  ceaselessly.24 


"  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     303 

The  key- word  of  Christianity  is  love,  and  its  message 
is  grace.  Its  symbol  is  the  cross,  and  its  sacrament 
the  supper,  in  token  of  the  infinite  love  of  the  Father 
who  wrote  his  revelation  in  a  human  life.  The  resem- 
blances bjtween  the  religions  of  Gautama  and  of  Jesus, 
are  purely  superficial.  They  appear  to  the  outward 
man.  The  inward  man  cannot,  even  from  Darien 
peaks  of  observation  or  in  his  scrutiny  de  profundis, 
discover  any  vital  or  historical  connection  between  the 
two  faiths,  Christianity  and  Buddhism.  In  his  theol- 
ogy the  Christian  says  God  is  all ;  but  the  Buddhist 
says  All  is  god.  Buddhism  says  destroy  the  passions : 
Christianity  says  control  them.  The  Buddhist's 
watchword  is  Nirvana.  The  Christian's  is  Eternal 
Life  in  Christ  Jesus.25 

TJie  Temples  and  Their  Symbolism. 

In  the  vast  airy  halls  of  a  Buddhist  temple  one  will 
often  see  columns  made  of  whole  tree-trunks,  sheeted 
with  gold  and  supporting  massive  ceilings  which  are 
empanelled  and  gorgeous  with,  every  hue  and  tint 
known  to  the  palette.  Besides  the  coloring,  carving 
and  gilding,  the  rich  symbolism  strikes  the  eye  and 
touches  the  imagination.  It  is  a  pleasing  study  for 
one  familiar  with  the  background  and  world  of  Buddh- 
ism, to  note  their  revelation  and  expression  in  art,  as 
well  as  to  discern  what  the  varying  sects  accept  or  re- 
ject. There  is  the  lotus,  in  leaf,  bud,  flower  and 
torus;26  the  diamond  in  every  form,  real  and  imagi- 
nary, with  the  vagra  or  emblem  of  conquest ;  while  on 
the  altars,  beside  the  central  image,  be  it  that  of  Shaka 
or  of  Amida,  are  Bodhisattvas  or  Buddhas  by  brevet, 


304  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

beings  in  every  state  of  existence,  as  well  as  deities  of 
many  names  and  forms.  Abstract  ideas  and  attributes 
are  expressed  in  the  art  language  not  only  of  Japan, 
Korea  and  China,  but  also  in  that  of  India  and  even 
of  Persia  and  Greece,27  until  one  wonders  how  an  Aryan 
religion,  like  Buddhism,  could  have  so  conquered  and 
unified  the  many  nations  of  Chinese  Asia.  He  won- 
ders, indeed,  until  he  remembers  how  it  has  itself 
been  transformed  and  changed  in  popular  substance, 
from  lofty  metaphysics  and  ethics  into  pantheism  for 
the  shorn,  and  into  polytheism  for  the  unshorn. 

Looking  at  early  Japanese  pictures  with  the  eye  of 
the  historian,  as  well  as  of  the  connoisseur  of  art,  one 
will  see  that  the  first  real  school  of  Japanese  art  was 
Buddhistic.  The  modern  school  of  pictorial  art,  named 
from  the  monkish  phrase,  Ukioye — pictures  of  the  Pas- 
sing World — is  indeed  very  interesting  to  the  western 
student,  because  it  seems  to  be  more  in  touch  with  the 
human  nature  of  the  whole  world,  as  distinct  from  what 
is  local,  Chinese,  or  sectarian.  Yet,  casting  a  glance 
back  of  the  mediaeval  Kano,  Chinese  and  Yamato-Tosa 
styles,  he  finds  that  Buddhism  gave  Japan  her  first  ex- 
amples of  and  stimulus  to  pictorial  art.28  He  sees  fur- 
ther that  instead  of  the  monochrome  of  Chinese  exotic 
art,  or  the  first  rude  attempts  of  the  native  pencil, 
Buddhism  began  Japanese  sculpture,  carving  and 
nearly  every  other  form  of  plastic  or  pictorial  repre- 
sentation, in  which  are  all  the  elements  of  Northern 
Buddhism,  as  so  lavishly  represented,  for  example,  in 
that  great  sutra  which  is  the  book,  par  excellence,  of 
Japanese  Buddhism,  the  Saddharma  Pundarika. 

Turning  from  text  to  art,  we  behold  the  golden  lakes 
of  joy,  the  mountain  of  gems,  the  floating  female  an-* 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     305 

gels  with  their  marvellous  drapery  and  lovely  faces, 
the  gentle  benignity  of  the  goddesses  of  mercy,  the 
rays  of  light  and  the  glory  streaming  from  face  and 
head  of  the  holy  ones,  the  splendors  of  costume,  the 
varied  beauties  of  the  lotus,  the  hosts  of  ministering 
intelligences,  the  luxuriant  symbolism,  the  purple 
clouds,  the  wheel  of  the  law,  the  swastika a  or  double 
cross,  and  the  vagra,30  or  diamond  trefoil.  All  that 
color,  perfume,  sensuous  delights,  art  and  luxury  can 
suggest,  are  here,  together  with  all  the  various  orders 
of  beings  that  inhabit  the  Buddhist  universe;  and 
these  are  set  forth  in  their  fulness  and  detail.  In  the 
six  conditions  of  sentient  existence  are  devas  or  gods, 
men,  asuras  or  monsters,  pretas  or  demons,  beasts, 
and  beings  in  hell.  In  portraying  these,  the  artists 
and  sculptors  do  not  always  slavishly  follow  tradition 
or  uniformity.  The  critical  eye  notes  nearly  as  much 
genius,  wit  and  variety  as  in  the  mediaeval  cathedral 
architecture  of  Europe.  Probably  the  most  popular 
groups  of  idols  are  those  of  the  seven  or  the  thirty- 
three  Kuannon,  of  the  six  Jizo31  or  compassionate 
helpers,  and  of  the  sixteen  or  the  five  hundred 
Kakan32  or  circles  of  primitive  disciples  of  Gautama. 
The  angelic  beings  and  sweetly  singing  birds  of  Para- 
dise are  also  favorite  subjects  of  the  artists. 

One  who  has  lived  alongside  the  great  temples  ;  who 
knows  the  daily  routine  and  sees  what  powerful  en- 
gines of  popular  instruction  they  are ;  who  has  been 
present  at  the  great  festivals  and  looked  upon  the 
mighty  kitchens  and  refectories  in  operation  ;  and  who 
has  gone  in  and  out  among  their  monasteries  and  ex- 
amined their  records,  their  genealogies  and  their  relics, 
ean  see  how  powerfully  Buddhism  has  moulded  the 


306  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

whole  life  of  the  people  through  long  ages.  The  vil- 
lage temple  is  often  the  epitome  and  repository  of  the 
social  life  of  the  people  now  living,  and  of  the  story  of 
their  ancestors  for  generations  upon  generations  past. 
It  is  the  historico-genealogical  society,  the  museum, 
the  repository  of  documents  and  trophies,  the  place  of 
national  thanksgiving  and  praise,  of  public  sorrow  and 
farewell,  a  place  of  rendezvous  and  separation,  the 
starting-point  of  procession,  and  the  centre  of  festival 
and  joy ;  and  thus  it  is  linked  with  the  life  of  the  peo- 
ple. 

In  other  respects,  also,  the  temple  is  like  the  old  vil- 
lage cathedral  of  mediaeval  Europe.  It  is  in  many  sects 
the  centre  of  popular  pleasure  of  all  sorts,  both  reputa- 
ble and  disreputable.  Not  only  shops  and  bazaars, 
fairs  and  markets,  games  and  sports,  cluster  around  it, 
but  also  curiosities  and  works  of  popular  art,  the  relics 
of  war,  and  the  trophies  of  travel  and  adventure.  Ex- 
cept that  Buddhism — outside  of  India — never  had  the 
unity  of  European  Christianity,  the  Buddhist  temple 
is  the  mirror  and  encyclopaedia  both  of  history  and  of 
contemporary  life.  As  fame  and  renown  are  necessary 
for  the  glory  of  the  place  or  the  structure,  favorite  gods, 
or  rather  their  idols,  are  frequently  carried  about  on 
"  starring  "  tours.  At  the  opening  to  public  view  of 
some  famous  image  or  relic,  a  great  festival  or  revival 
called  Kai-cho  is  held,  which  becomes  a  scene  of  trade 
and  merry-making  like  that  of  the  mediaeval  fair  or  ker- 
mis in  Europe.  The  far-oriental  is  able  as  skilfully 
as  his  western  confrere,  to  mix  business  and  religion 
and  to  suppose  that  gain  is  godliness.  Further,  the 
manufacture  of  legend  becomes  a  thriving  industry  ; 
while  the  not-infrequent  sensation  of  a  popular  miracle 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    307 

is  manipulated  by  the  bonzes — for  priestcraft  in  all 
ages  and  climes  is  akin  throughout  the  world.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  some  honest  Japanese,  incensed  at  the 
shams  utilized  by  the  religious,  has  struck  out  like 
coin  the  proverb  that  rings  true — "  Good  doctrine 
needs  no  miracle." 

The  Bell  and  the  Cemetery. 

The  Buddhist  missionaries,  and  especially  the  found- 
ers of  temples,  thoroughly  understood  the  power  of 
natural  beauty  to  humble,  inspire  and  soothe  the  soul 
of  man.  The  instinctive  love  of  the  Japanese  people 
for  fine  scenery,  was  made  an  ally  of  faith.  The  sites 
for  temples  were  chosen  with  reference  to  their  impos- 
ing surroundings  or  impressive  vistas.  Whether  as 
spark-arresters  and  protectives  against  fire,  or  to  com- 
pel reverent  awe,  the  loftiest  evergreen  trees  are 
planted  around  the  sacred  structure.  These  "trees  of 
Jehovah "  are  compellers  to  reverence.  The  alien's 
hat  comes  off  instinctively — though  it  may  be  less  con- 
venient to  shed  boots  than  sandals — as  he  enters  the 
sacred  structure. 

The  great  tongueless  bell  is  another  striking  acces- 
sory to  the  temple  services.  Near  at  hand  stands  the 
belfry  out  of  which  boom  forth  tidings  of  the  hours. 
In  the  flow  of  time  and  years,  the  note  of  the  bell  be- 
comes more  significant,  and  in  old  age  solemn,  making 
in  the  lapse  of  centuries  an  educating  power  in  serious- 
ness. "As  sad  as  a  temple  bell"  is  the  coinage  of 
popular  speech.  Many  of  the  inscriptions,  though 
with  less  of  sunny  hope  and  joy  than  even  Christian 
grave-stones  bear,  are  yet  mournfully  beautiful.33  They 
preach  Buddhism  in  its  reality.  Whereas,  the  general 


SOS  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

associations  of  the  Christian  spire  and  belfry,  apart 
from  the  note  of  time,  are  those  of  joy,  invitation  and 
good  news,  those  of  the  tongueless  and  log-struck  bells 
of  Buddhism  are  sombre  and  saddening.  "  As  merry 
as  a  marriage  bell,"  could  never  be  said  of  the  boom 
from  a  Buddhist  temple,  even  though  it  pour  waves  of 
sound  through  sunny  leagues.  There  is  a  vast  differ- 
ence between  the  peal  and  play  of  the  chimes  of  Europe 
and  the  liquid  melody  which  floods  the  landscape  of 
Chinese  Asia.  The  one  music,  high  in  air,  seems  ever 
to  tell  of  faith,  triumph  and  aspiration  ;  the  other  in 
minor  notes,  from  bells  hung  low  on  yokes,  perpetu- 
ally echoes  the  pessimism  of  despair,  the  folly  of  living 
and  the  joy  that  anticipates  its  end. 

Above  all,  the  temple  holds  and  governs  the  ceme- 
tery,34 as  well  as  the  cradle ;  while  from  it  emanate  in- 
fluences that  enwrap  and  surround  the  villager,  from 
birth  to  death.  Since  the  outlawry  of  Christianity,  and 
especially  since  the  division  of  the  empire  into  Buddh- 
ist parishes,  the  bonzes  have  had  the  oversight  of  birth, 
death,  registry  and  funerals.  Particularly  tenacious,, 
in  common  with  priestcraft  all  over  the  world,  is  their 
clutch  upon  what  they  call  "  consecrated  ground."  In 
a  large  sense  Japan  is  still,  what  China  has  always 
been,  a  country  governed  by  the  graveyard.  These; 
cities  of  the  dead  are  usually  kept  in  attractive  order 
and  made  beautiful  with  flowers  in  memoriam.  The 
study  of  epitaphs  and  mortuary  architecture,  though 
not  without  elements  bordering  on  the  ludicrous,  is 
enjoyed  by  the  thoughtful  student.35 

In  every  community  the  inhabitants  are  enrolled  at  birth 
at  the  local  temple,  whose  priests  are  the  authorized  religious 
teachers,  and  are  always  expected  to  take  charge  of  the  funerals 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    309 

of  those  whose  names  are  thus  enrolled.  So  long  as  an  indi- 
vidual remains  in  the  region  of  the  family  temple,  the  tie 
which  binds  him  to  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  break  ;  but  if 
lie  moves  away  he  is  no  longer  bound  by  this  tie.  This  ex- 
plains the  fact,  so  often  observed  by  missionaries,  that  the 
membership  of  Christian  churches  is  made  up  almost  entirely 
of  people  who  have  come  from  other  localities.  In  the  city  of 
Osaka,  for  instance,  it  is  a  very  rare  thing  to  find  a  native 
Osakan  in  any  of  the  churches.  The  same  is  true  in  all  parts 
of  the  country.  So  long  as  a  Japanese  remains  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  family  temple  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  him 
to  break  the  temple  tie  and  join  a  Christian  church  ;  but  when 
he  moves  to  another  place  he  is  free  to  do  as  he  likes.36 

This  statement  of  a  resident  in  modern  Japan  will 
long  remain  true  for  a  large  part  of  the  empire. 


Political  and  Military  Influences. 

A  volume  might  be  written  and  devoted  to  Japanese 
Buddhism  as  a  political  power  ;  for,  having  quickly 
obtained  intellectual  possession  of  the  court  and  em- 
peror, it  dictated  the  policies  of  the  rulers.  In  A.D. 
624,  it  was  recognized  as  a  state  religion,  and  the  hi- 
erarchy of  priests  was  officially  established.  At  this 
date  there  were  46  temples  and  monasteries,  with  816 
monks  and  569  nuns.  As  early  as  the  eighth  century, 
beginning  with  Shomu,  who  reigned  A.D.  724-728,  and 
who  with  his  daughter,  afterward  the  female  Mikado, 
became  a  disciple  of  Shaka,  the  habit  of  the  emperors 
becoming  monks,  shaving  their  heads  and  retiring  from 
public  life,  came  in  vogue  and  lasted  until  near  the 
nineteenth  century.  By  this  means  the  bonzes  were 
soon  enabled  to  call  Buddhism  "  the  people's  religion,'* 
and  to  secure  the  resources  of  the  national  treasury  as 


310  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

an  aid  to  their  temple  and  monastery  building,  and 
for  the  erection  of  those  images  and  wayside  shrines 
on  which  so  many  millions  of  dollars  have  been  lav- 
ished. In  addition  to  this  subsidized  propaganda,  the 
Buddhist  confessor  was  too  often  able,  by  means  of 
the  wife,  concubine,  or  other  female  member  of  the 
household,  imperial  or  noble,  to  dictate  the  imperial 
policy  in  accordance  with  monkish  or  priestly  ideas. 
Ugeno  Do-kio,  a  monk,  is  believed  to  have  aspired  to 
the  throne.  Being  made  premier  by  the  Empress  Ko- 
ken,  whose  passion  for  him  is  the  scandal  of  history, 
he  made  no  scruple  of  extending  the  power  as  well  as 
the  influence  of  the  Buddhist  hierarchy. 

Buddhism  had  also  a  distinct  influence  on  the  mili- 
tary history  of  the  country,37  and  this  was  greatest 
during  the  civil  wars  of  the  rival  Mikados  (1336- 
1392),  when  the  whole  country  was  a  camp  and  two 
lines  of  nominees  claimed  to  be  descendants  of  the 
sun-goddess.  Japan's  only  foreign  wars  have  been 
in  the  neighboring  peninsula  of  Korea,  and  thither 
the  bonzes  went  with  the  armies  in  the  expeditions 
of  the  early  centuries,  and  in  that  great  invasion  of 
1592-1597,  which  has  left  a  scar  even  to  this  day 
on  the  Korean  mind.  At  home,  Buddhist  priests 
only  too  gladly  accompanied  the  imperial  armies  of 
conquest  and  occupation.  During  centuries  of  ac- 
tivity in  the  southwest  and  in  the  far  east  and  ex- 
treme north,  the  military  brought  the  outlying  por- 
tions of  the  empire,  throughout  the  whole  archipelago, 
under  the  sway  of  the  Yamato  tribe  and  the  Mikado's 
dominion.  The  shorn  clerks  not  only  lived  in  camp, 
ministered  to  the  sick  and  shrived  the  dying  soldier, 
but  wrote  texts  for  the  banners,  furnished  the  amu- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    311 

lets  and  war  cries,  and  were  ever  assistant  and  val- 
uable in  keeping  up  the  temper  and  morals  of  the  ar- 
mies.38 No  sooner  was  the  campaign  over  and  peace 
had  become  the  order  of  the  day,  than  the  enthusiastic 
missionaries  began  to  preach  and  to  teach  in  the  paci- 
fied region.  They  set  up  the  shrines,  anon  started  the 
school  and  built  the  temple  ;  usually,  indeed,  with  the 
aid  of  the  law  and  the  government,  acting  as  agents  of 
a  politico-ecclesiastical  establishment,  yet  with  energy 
and  consecration. 

In  later  feudal  days,  when  the  soldier  classes  ob- 
tained the  upper  hand,  overawed  the  court  and  Mi- 
kado and  gradually  supplanted  the  civil  authority, 
introducing  feudalism  and  martial  law,  the  bonzes 
often  represented  the  popular  and  democratic  side. 
Protesting  against  arbitrary  government,  they  came 
into  collision  with  the  warrior  rulers,  so  as  to  be  ex- 
posed to  imprisonment  and  the  sword.  Yet  even  as 
refugees  and  as  men  to  whom  the  old  seats  of  activity 
no  longer  offered  success  or  comfort,  they  went  off  into 
the  distant  and  outlying  provinces,  preaching  the  old 
tenets  and  the  new  fashions  in  theology.  Thus  again 
they  won  hosts  of  converts,  built  monasteries,  opened 
fresh  paths  and  were  purveyors  of  civilization. 

The  feudal  ages  in  Japan  bred  the  same  type  of 
militant  priest  known  in  Europe — the  military  bishop 
and  the  soldier  monk.  So  far  from  Japan's  being  the 
"  Land  of  Great  Peace,"  and  Buddhism's  being  neces- 
sarily gentle  and  non-resistant,  we  find  in  the  cheq- 
uered history  of  the  island  empire  many  a  bloody  bat- 
tle between  the  monks  on  horseback  and  in  armor.39 
Kival  sectarians  kept  the  country  disquieted  for  years. 
Between  themselves  and  their  favored  laymen,  and  the 


312  fHE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

enemy,  consisting  of  the  rival  forces,  lay  and  clerical, 
in  like  array,  many  a  bloody  battle  was  fought. 

The  writer  lived  for  one  year  in  Echizen,  which,  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  was  the  battle-ground  for  over 
fifty  years,  of  warring  monks.  The  abbot  of  the  Mon- 
astery of  the  Original  Vow,  of  the  Shin  sect  in  Kioto, 
had  built  before  the  main  edifice  a  two-storied  gate, 
which  was  expected  to  throw  into  the  shade  every 
other  gateway  in  Japan,  and  especially  to  humble  the 
pride  of  the  monks  of  the  Tendai  sect,  in  Hiyeizan. 
The  monks  of  the  mountain,  swarming  down  into  the 
capital  city,  attacked  the  gate  and  monastery  of  the 
Shin  sect  and  burned  the  former  to  ashes.  The  abbot 
thus  driven  off  by  fire,  fled  northward,  and,  joined  by  a 
powerful  body  of  adherents,  made  himself  possessor  of 
the  rich  provinces  of  Kaga  and  Echizen,  holding  this 
region  for  half  a  century,  until  able  to  rebuild  the 
mighty  fortress-monasteries  near  Kioto  and  at  Osaka. 

These  strongholds  of  the  fighting  Shin  priests  had 
become  so  powerful  as  arsenals  and  military  headquar- 
ters, that  in  1570,  Nobunaga,  skilful  general  as  he  was,, 
and  backed  by  sixty  thousand  men,  was  unsuccessful 
in  his  attempt  to  reduce  them.  For  ten  years,  the  war 
between  Nobunaga  and  the  Shin  sectarians  kept  the 
country  in  disorder.  It  finally  ended  in  the  conflagra- 
tion of  the  great  religious  fortress  at  Osaka,  and  the  re- 
treat of  the  monks  to  another  part  of  the  country.  By 
their  treachery  and  incendiarism,  the  shavelings  pre- 
vented the  soldiers  from  enjoying  the  prizes. 

To  detail  the  whole  history  of  the  fighting  monks 
would  be  tedious.  They  have  had  a  foothold  for  many 
centuries  and  even  to  the  present  time,  in  every  prov- 
ince except  that  of  Satsuma.  There,  because  they 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    313 

treacherously  aided  the  great  Hideyoshi  to  subdue  the 
province,  the  fiery  clansmen,  never  during  Tokugawa 
days,  permitted  a  Buddhist  priest  to  come.40 

Literature  and  Education. 

In  its  literary  and  scholastic  development,  Japanese 
Buddhism  on  its  popular  educational  side  deserves 
great  praise.  Although  the  Buddhist  canon 41  was 
never  translated  into  the  vernacular,42  and  while  the 
library  of  native  Buddhism,  in  the  way  of  commentary 
or  general  literature,  reflects  no  special  credit  upon 
the  priests,  yet  the  historian  must  award  them  high 
honor,  because  of  the  part  taken  by  them  as  educa- 
tors and  schoolmasters.43  Education  in  ancient  and 
mediaeval  times  was,  among  the  laymen,  confined  al- 
most wholly  to  the  imperial  court,  and  was  considered 
chiefly  to  be,  either  as  an  adjunct  to  polite  accomplish- 
ments, or  as  valuable  especially  in  preparing  young 
men  for  political  office.44  From  the  first  introduction 
of  letters  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century,  there 
was  no  special  provision  for  education  made  by  the 
government,  except  that,  in  modern  and  recent  times  in 
the  castle  towns  of  the  Daimios,  there  were  schools  of 
Chinese  learning  for  the  Samurai.  Private  schools 
and  school-masters45  were  also  creditably  numerous. 
In  original  literature,  poetry,  fiction  and  history,  as  well 
as  in  the  humbler  works  of  compilation,  in  the  making 
of  text-books  and  in  descriptive  lore,  the  pens  of  many 
priests  have  been  busy.46  The  earliest  biography  writ- 
ten in  Japan  was  of  Shotoku,  the  great  lay  patron  of 
Buddhism.  In  the  ages  of  war  the  monastery  was 
the  ark  of  preservation  amid  a  flood  of  desolation. 


314:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

The  temple  schools  were  early  established,  and  in  the 
course  of  centuries  became  at  times  almost  coextensive 
with  the  empire.  Besides  the  training  of  the  neo- 
phytes in  the  Chinese  language  and  the  vernacular,  there 
were  connected  with  thousands  of  temples,  schools  in 
which  the  children,  not  only  of  the  well-to-do,  but 
largely  of  the  people,  were  taught  the  rudiments  of 
education,  chiefly  reading  and  writing.  Most  of  the 
libraries  of  the  country  were  those  in  monasteries. 
Although  it  is  not  probable  that  Kobo  invented  the 
Kana  or  common  script,  yet  it  is  reasonably  certain 
that  the  bonzes  47  were  the  chief  instrument  in  the  dif- 
fusion and  popularization  of  that  simple  system  of 
writing,  which  made  it  possible  to  carry  literature  down 
into  the  homes  of  the  merchant  and  peasant,  and  en- 
abled even  women  and  children  to  beguile  the  tedium 
of  their  lives.  Thus  the  people  expanded  their 
thoughts  through  the  medium  of  the  written,  and  later 
of  the  printed,  page.48  Until  modern  centuries,  when 
the  school  of  painters,  which  culminated  in  Hokusai 
and  his  contemporaries,  brought  a  love  of  art  down  to 
the  lowest  classes  of  the  people,  the  only  teacher  of 
pictorial  and  sculptural  art  for  the  multitude,  was 
Buddhism.  So  strong  is  this  popular  delight  in  things 
artistic  that  probably,  to  this  passion  as  much  as  to 
the  religious  instinct,  we  owe  many  of  the  wayside 
shrines  and  images,  the  symbolical  and  beautifully 
prepared  landscapes,  and  those  stone  stairways  which 
slope  upward  toward  the  shrines  on  the  hill -tops. 
In  Japan,  art  is  not  a  foreign  language ;  it  is  vernac- 
ular. 

Thus,  while  we  gladly  point  out  how  Buddhism,  along 
the  paths  of  exploration,  commerce,  invention,  sociol- 


DEVELOPMKNT   OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     315 

ogy,  military  and  political  influence,  education  and 
literature,  not  only  propagated  religion,  but  civilized 
Japan,49  it  is  but  in  the  interest  of  fairness  and  truth 
that  we  point  out  that  wherein  the  great  system  was 
deficient.  If  we  make  comparison  with  Christendom 
and  the  religion  of  Jesus,  it  is  less  with  the  purpose 
of  the  polemic  who  must  perhaps  necessarily  dispar- 
cige,  and  more  with  the  idea  of  making  contrast  between 
what  we  have  seen  in  Japan  and  what  we  have  enjoyed 
as  commonplace  in  the  United  States  and  Europe. 

Things  Which  Buddhism  Left  Undone. 

In  the  thirteen  hundred  years  of  the  life  of  Buddh- 
ism in  Japan,  what  are  the  fruits,  and  what  are  the 
failures  ?  Despite  its  incessant  and  multifarious 
activities,  one  looks  in  vain  for  the  hospital,  the  or- 
phan asylum,  the  home  for  elderly  men  or  women 
or  aged  couples,  or  the  asylum  for  the  insane,  and 
much  less,  for  that  vast  and  complicated  system  of 
organized  charities,  which,  even  amid  our  material 
greed  of  gain,  make  cities  like  New  York,  or  London, 
or  Chicago,  so  beautiful  from  the  point  of  view  of 
humanity.  Buddhism  did  indeed  teach  kindness  to 
animals,  making  even  the  dog,  though  ownerless  and 
outcast,  in  a  sense  sacred.  Because  of  his  faith  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls,  the  toiling  lab- 
orer will  keep  his  wheels  or  his  feet  from  harming  the 
cat  or  dog  or  chicken  in  the  road,  even  though  it  be 
at  risk  and  trouble  and  with  added  labor  to  himself. 
The  pious  will  buy  the  live  birds  or  eels  from  the 
old  woman  who  sits  on  the  bridge,  in  order  to  give 
them  life  and  liberty  again  in  air  or  water.  The  sa- 


316  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

cred  rice  is  for  sale  at  the  temples,  not  only  to  feed  but 
to  fatten  the  holy  pigeons. 

Yet,  while  all  this  care  is  lavished  on  animals,  the 
human  being  suffers.50  Buddhism  is  kind  to  the  brute, 
and  cruel  to  man.  Until  the  influx  of  western  ideas 
in  recent  years,  the  hospital  and  the  orphanage  did  not 
exist  in  Japan,  despite  the  gentleness  and  tenderness  of 
Shaka,  who,  with  all  his  merits,  deserted  his  wife  and 
babe  in  order  to  enlighten  mankind.51  If  Buddhism  is 
not  directly  responsible  for  the  existence  of  that  class  of 
Japanese  pariahs  called  hi-nin,  or  not-human,  the  name 
and  the  idea  are  borrowed  from  the  sutras  ;  while  the 
execration  of  all  who  prepare  or  sell  the  flesh  of  ani- 
mals is  persistently  taught  in  the  sacred  books.  These 
unfortunate  bearers  of  the  human  image,  during  twelve 
hundred  years  and  until  the  fiat  of  the  present  illustrious 
emperor  made  them  citizens,  were  not  reckoned  in  the 
census,  nor  was  the  land  on  which  they  dwelt  meas- 
ured. The  imperial  edict  which  finally  elevated  the 
Eta  to  citizenship,  was  suggested  by  one  whose  life, 
though  known  to  men  as  that  of  a  Confucian,  was  prob- 
ably hid  with  Christ,  Yokoi  Heishiro.52  The  emperor 
Mutsuhito,  123d  of  the  line  of  Japan,  born  on  the  day 
when  Perry  was  on  the  Mississippi  and  ready  to  sail, 
placed  over  these  outcast  people  in  1871,  the  pro- 
tecting aegis  of  the  law.53  Until  that  time,  the  peo- 
ple in  this  unfortunate  class,  numbering  probably  a 
million,  or,  as  some  say,  three  millions,  were  compelled 
to  live  outside  of  the  limits  of  human  habitation,  hav- 
ing no  rights  which  society  or  the  law  was  bound  to 
respect.  They  were  given  food  or  drink;  only  when 
benevolence  might  be  roused;  but  the  donor  would 
never  again  touch  the  vessel  ID  which  the  offering  was 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     317 

made.  The  Eta,54  though  in  individual  cases  becom- 
ing measurably  rich,  rotted  and  starved,  and  were  made 
the  filth  and  off-scouring  of  the  earth,  because  they 
were  the  butchers,  the  skinners,  the  leather  workers, 
and  thus  handled  dead  animals,  being  made  also  the 
executioners  and  buriers  of  the  dead.  After  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  citizens,  whose  ancestry  is  not  forgot- 
ten, suffer  social  ostracism  even  more  than  do  the  freed 
slaves  of  our  country,  though  between  them  and  the 
other  Japanese  there  is  no  color  line,  but  only  the  streak 
of  difference  which  Buddhism  created  and  has  main- 
tained. Nevertheless,  let  it  be  said  to  the  eternal  honor 
of  Shin  Shu  and  of  some  of  the  minor  sects,  that  they 
were  always  kind  and  helpful  to  the  Eta. 

Furthermore  it  would  be  hard  to  discover  Buddhist 
missionary  activities  among  the  Ainos,  or  benefits  con- 
ferred upon  them  by  the  disciples  of  Gautama.  One 
would  suppose  that  the  Buddhists,  professing  to  be 
believers  in  spiritual  democracy,  would  be  equally  ac- 
tive among  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men ;  but  they 
have  not  been  so.  Even  in  the  days  when  the  regions 
of  the  Ebisu  or  barbarians  (Yezo)  extended  far  south- 
ward upon  the  main  island,  the  missionary  bonze 
was  conspicuous  by  his  absence  among  these  people. 
It  would  seem  as  though  the  popular  notion  that  the 
Ainos  are  the  offspring  of  dogs,  had  been  fed  by  pre- 
judices inculcated  by  Buddhism.  It  has  been  reserved 
for  Christian  aliens  to  reduce  the  language  of  these 
simple  savages  to  writing,  and  to  express  in  it  for  their 
spiritual  benefit  the  ideas  and  literature  of  a  religion 
higher  than  their  own,  as  well  as  to  erect  church  edi- 
fices and  build  hospitals. 


318  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


The  Attitude  Toward  Woman. 

In  its  attitude  toward  woman,  which  is  perhaps  one 
of  the  crucial  tests  of  a  religion  as  well  as  of  a  civiliza- 
tion, Buddhism  has  somewhat  to  be  praised  and  much 
to  be  blamed  for.  It  is  probable  that  the  Japanese 
woman  owes  more  to  Buddhism  than  to  Confucian- 
ism, though  relatively  her  position  was  highest  under 
Shinto.  In  Japan  the  women  are  the  freest  in  Asia, 
and  probably  the  best  treated  among  any  Asiatic  na- 
tion, but  this  is  not  because  of  Gautama's  teaching.55 
Very  early  in  its  history  Japanese  Buddhism  welcomed 
womanhood  to  its  fraternity  and  order,36  yet  the  Japan- 
ese ama,  bikuni,  or  nun,  never  became  a  sister  of  mer- 
cy, or  reached,  even  within  a  measurable  distance,  the 
dignity  of  the  Christian  lad}7  in  the  nunnery.  In  Eu- 
ropean history  the  abbess  is  a  notable  figure.  She  is 
hardly  heard  of  beyond  the  Japanese  nunnery,  even  by 
the  native  scholar — except  in  fiction. 

So  far  as  we  can  see,  the  religion  founded  by  one 
who  deserted  his  wife  and  babe  did  nothing  to  check 
concubinage  or  polygamy.  It  simply  allowed  these 
things,  or  ameliorated  their  ancient  barbaric  conditions 
through  the  law  of  kindness.  Nevertheless,  it  brought 
education  and  culture  within  the  family  as  well  as 
within  the  court.  It  would  be  an  interesting  question 
to  discuss  how  far  the  age  of  classic  vernacular  prose 
or  the  early  mediaeval  literature  of  romance,  which  is 
almost  wholly  the  creation  of  woman,  57  is  due  to 
Buddhism,  or  how  far  the  credit  belongs,  by  induction 
or  reaction,  to  the  Chinese  movement  in  favor  of  learn- 
ing. Certainly,  the  faith  of  India  touches  and  feeds 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM     319 

the  imagination  far  more  than  does  that  of  China.  Cer- 
tainly also,  the  animating  spirit  of  most  of  the  popular 
literature  is  due  to  Buddhistic  culture.  The  Shin  sect, 
which  permits  the  marriage  of  the  priests  and  preaches 
the  salvation  of  woman,  probably  leads  all  others  in 
according  honor  to  her  as  well  as  in  elevating  her 
social  position. 

Buddhism,  like  Koman  Catholicism,  and  as  com- 
pared to  Confucianism  which  is  protestant  and  mascu- 
line, is  feminine  in  its  type.  In  Japan  the  place  of 
the  holy  Virgin  Mary  is  taken  by  Kuannon,  the  god- 
dess of  mercy ;  and  her  shrine  is  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar of  all.  Much  the  same  may  be  said  of  Benten,  the 
queen  of  the  heaven  and  mistress  of  the  seas.  The 
angels  of  Buddhism  are  always  feminine,  and,  as  in 
the  unscriptural  and  pagan  conception  of  Christian 
angels,  have  wings.58  So  also  in  the  legends  of  Gau- 
tama, in  the  Buddhist  lives  of  the  saints,  and  in  leg- 
endary lore  as  well  as  in  glyptic  and  pictorial  art,  the 
female  being  transfigured  in  loveliness  is  a  striking  fig- 
ure. Nevertheless,  after  all  is  summed  up  that  can 
possibly  be  said  in  favor  of  Buddhism,  the  position  it 
accords  to  woman  is  not  only  immeasurably  beneath 
that  given  by  Christianity,  but  is  below  that  conceded 
by  Shinto,  which  knows  not  only  goddesses  and  hero- 
ines, but  also  priestesses  and  empresses.59 

According  to  the  popular  ethical  view  as  photo- 
graphed in  language,  literature  and  art,  jealousy  is  al- 
ways represented  by  a  female  demon.  Indeed,  most 
of  the  tempters,  devils,  and  transformations  of  human- 
ity into  malign  beings,  whether  pretas,  asuras,  oni, 
foxes.,  badgers,  or  cats,  are  females.  As  the  Chinese 
ideographs  associate  all  things  weak  or  vile  with  worn- 


320  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

en,  so  the  tell-tale  words  of  Japanese  daily  speech  are 
but  reflections  of  the  dogmas  coined  in  the  Buddh- 
ist mint.  In  Japanese,  chastity  means  not  moral 
cleanliness  without  regard  to  sex,  but  only  womanly 
duties.  For,  while  the  man  is  allowed  a  loose  foot, 
the  woman  is  expected  not  only  to  be  absolutely  spot- 
less, but  also  never  to  show  any  jealousy,  however  wide 
the  husband  may  roam,  or  however  numerous  may  be 
the  concubines  in  his  family.  In  a  word,  there  is  the 
double  standard  of  morals,  not  only  of  priest  and  laity, 
but  of  man  and  woman.  The  position  of  the  Japanese 
woman  even  of  to-day,  despite  that  eagerness  once 
shown  to  educate  her — an  eagerness  which  soon  cooled 
in  the  government  schools,  but  which  keeps  an  even 
pulse  in  the  Christian  home  and  college — is  still  rela- 
tively one  of  degradation  as  compared  with  that  of  her 
sister  in  Christendom.  For  this,  the  mid- Asian  relig- 
ion is  not  wholly  responsible,  yet  it  is  largely  so. 

Influence  on  the  Japanese  Character. 

In  regard  to  the  influence  of  Buddhism  upon  the 
morals  and  character  of  the  Japanese,  there  is  much  to 
be  said  in  praise,  and  much  also  in  criticism.  It  has 
aided  powerfully  to  educate  the  people  in  habits  of 
gentleness  and  courtesy,  but  instead  of  aspiration  and 
expectancy  of  improvement,  it  has  given  to  them  that 
spirit  of  hopeless  resignation  which  is  so  characteristic 
of  the  Japanese  masses.  Buddhism  has  so  dominated 
common  popular  literature,  daily  life  and  speech,  that 
all  their  mental  procedure  and  their  utterance  is  cast 
in  the  moulds  of  Buddhist  doctrine.  The  fatalism  of 
the  Moslem  world  expressed  in  the  idea  of  Kismet, 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPANESE  BUDDHISM    321 

has  its  analogue  in  the  Japanese  Ingwa,  or  "cause 
and  effect," — the  notion  of  an  evolution  which  is  athe- 
istic, but  viewed  from  the  ethical  side.  This  idea  of 
Ingwa  is  the  key  to  most  Japanese  novels  as  well  as 
dramas  of  real  life.60  While  Buddhism  continually 
preaches  this  doctrine  of  Karma  or  Ingwa,61  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect,  as  being  sufficient  to  explain  all 
things,  it  shows  its  insufficiency  and  emptiness  by 
leaving  out  the  great  First  Cause  of  all.  In  a  word, 
Buddhism  is  law,  but  not  gospel.  It  deals  much  with 
man,  but  not  with  man's  relations  with  his  Creator, 
whom  it  utterly  ignores.  Christianity  comes  not  to 
destroy  its  ethics,  beautiful  as  they  are,  nor  to  ignore 
its  metaphysics  ;  but  to  fulfil,  to  give  a  higher  truth, 
and  to  reveal  a  larger  Universe  and  One  who  fills  it 
all — not  only  law,  but  a  Law-giver. 
21 


A  CENTUEY  OF  KOMAN  CHRISTIANITY 


"  Sicut  cadaver." 

"  Et  fiet  unum  ovile  et  unus  pastor."— Vulgate,  John  x.  16. 
"He  (Xavier)  has  been  the  moon  of  that  '  Society  of  Jesus'  of  which 
Ignatius  Loyola  was  the  guiding  sun." — S.  W.  Duffield. 

41  My  God  I  love  Thee  ;  not  because  I  hope  for  Heaven  thereby, 
Nor  yet  because,  who  love  Thee  not,  must  die  eternally. 
So  would  I  love  Thee,  dearest  Lord,  and  in  Thy  praise  will  sing  ; 
Solely  because  thou  art  my  God,  and  my  eternal  King. " 

— Hymn  attributed  to  Francis  Xavier. 
"Half  hidden,  stretching  in  a  lengthened  line 
In  front  of  China,  which  its  guide  shall  be, 
Japan  abounds  in  mines  of  silver  fine, 
And  shall  enlighten'd  be  by  holy  faith  divine." 

— Camoens. 

"  The  people  of  this  Hand  of  lapon  are  good  of  nature,  curteous  aboue 
measure,  and  valiant  in  warre  ;  their  iustice  is  seuerely  executed  without 
any  partialitie  vpon  transgressors  of  the  law.  They  are  gouerned  in  great 
ciuilitie.  I  meane,  not  a  land  better  gouerned  in  the  world  by  ciuill 
policie.  The  people  be  verie  superstitious  in  their  religion,  and  are  of 
diuers  opinions."— Will  Adams,  October  22,  1611. 

"  A  critical  history  of  Japan  remains  to  be  written  .  .  .  We  should 
know  next  to  nothing  of  what  may  be  termed  the  Catholic  episode 
of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  had  we  access  to  none  but  the 
official  Japanese  sources.  How  can  we  trust  those  sources  when  they  deal 
with  times  yet  more  remote  ?  " — Chamberlain. 

"  The  annals  of  the  primitive  Church  furnish  no  instances  of  sacrifice 
or  heroic  constancy,  in  the  Coliseum  or  the  Roman  arenas,  that  were  not 
paralleled  on  the  dry  river-beds  or  execution-grounds  of  Japan." 

"  They  .  .  .  rest  from  their  labors ;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them. " — Revelation. 


CHAPTEE  XI 

A  CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY 
Darkest  Japan 

THE  story  of  the  first  introduction  and  propagation 
of  Koman  Christianity  in  Japan,  during  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  has  been  told  by  many 
writers,  both  old  and  new,  and  in  many  languages. 
Eecent  research  upon  the  soil,1  both  natives  and  for- 
eigners making  contributions,  has  illustrated  the  sub- 
ject afresh.  Relics  and  memorials  found  in  various 
churches,  monasteries  and  palaces,  on  both  sides  of 
the  Pacific  and  the  Atlantic,  have  cast  new  light  upon 
the  fascinating  theme.  Both  Christian  and  non- 
Christian  Japanese  of  to-day,  in  their  travels  in  the 
Philippines,  China,  Formosa,  Mexico,  Spain,  Portugal 
and  Italy,  being  keenly  alert  for  memorials  of  their 
countrymen,  have  met  with  interesting  trovers.  The 
descendants  of  the  Japanese  martyrs  and  confessors 
now  recognize  their  own  ancestors,  in  the  picture  gal- 
leries of  Italian  nobles,  and  in  Christian  churches  see 
lettered  tombs  bearing  familiar  names,  or  in  western 
museums  discern  far-eastern  works  of  art  brought  over 
as  presents  or  curiosities,  centuries  ago. 

Eoughly  speaking,  Japanese  Christianity  lasted 
phenomenally  nearly  a  century,  or  more  exactly  from 
1542  to  1637.  During  this  time,  embassies  or  mis- 


326  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

sions  crossed  the  seas  not  only  of  Chinese  and  Penin- 
sular Asia,  circumnavigating  Africa  and  thus  reaching 
Europe,  but  also  sailed  across  the  Pacific,  and  visited 
papal  Christendom  by  way  of  Mexico  and  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean. 

This  century  of  Southern  Christianity  and  of  com- 
merce with  Europe  enabled  Japan,  which  had  pre- 
viously been  almost  unheard  of,  except  through  the 
vague  accounts  of  Marco  Polo  and  the  semi-mythical 
stories  by  way  of  China,  to  leave  a  conspicuous  mark, 
first  upon  the  countries  of  southern  Europe,  and  later 
upon  Holland  and  England.  As  in  European  litera- 
ture Cathay  became  China,  and  Zipango  or  Xipangu 
was  recognized  as  Japan,  so  also  the  curiosities,  the 
artistic  fabrics,  the  strange  things  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  soon  became  familiar  in  Europe.  Besides  the 
traffic  in  mercantile  commodities,  there  were  exchanges 
of  words.  The  languages  of  Europe  were  enriched 
by  Japanese  terms,  such  as  soy,  rnoxa,  goban,  japan 
(lacquer  or  varnish),  etc.,  while  the  tongue  of  Nippon 
received  an  infusion  of  new  terms,2  and  a  notable  list 
of  inventions  was  imported  from  Europe. 

We  shall  merely  outline,  with  critical  commentary, 
the  facts  of  history  which  have  been  so  often  told,  but 
which  in  our  day  have  received  luminous  illustration. 
We  shall  endeavor  to  treat  the  general  phenomena, 
causes  and  results  of  Christianity  in  Japan  in  the  same 
judicial  spirit  with  which  we  have  considered  Buddh- 
ism. 

Whatever  be  the  theological  or  political  opinions  of 
the  observer  who  looks  into  the  history  of  Japan  at 
about  the  year  1540,  he  will  acknowledge  that  this 
point  of  time  was  a  very  dark  moment  in  her  known 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      327 

history.  Columbus,  who  was  familiar  with  the  de- 
scriptions of  Marco  Polo,  steered  his  caravels  westward 
with  the  idea  of  finding  Xipangu,  with  its  abundance 
of  gold  and  precious  gems  ;  but  the  Genoese  did  not 
and  could  not  know  the  real  state  of  affairs  existing  in 
Dai  Nippon  at  this  time.  Let  us  glance  at  this. 

The  duarchy  of  Throne  and  Camp,  with  the  Mikado 
in  Kioto  and  the  Shogun  at  Kamakura,  with  the  elab- 
orate feudalism  under  it,  had  fallen  into  decay.  The 
whole  country  was  split  up  into  a  thousand  warring 
fragments.  To  these  convulsions  of  society,  in  which 
only  the  priest  and  the  soldier  were  in  comfort,  while 
the  mass  of  the  people  were  little  better  than  serfs, 
must  be  added  the  frequent  violent  earthquakes, 
drought  and  failure  of  crops,  with  famine  and  pesti- 
lence. There  was  little  in  religion  to  uplift  and  cheer. 
Shinto  had  sunk  into  the  shadow  of  a  myth.  Buddh- 
ism had  become  outwardly  a  system  of  political  gam- 
bling rather  than  the  ordered  expression  of  faith. 
Large  numbers  of  the  priests  were  like  the  mercen- 
aries of  Italy,  who  sold  their  influence  and  even  their 
swords  or  those  of  their  followers,  to  the  highest  bid- 
der. Besides  being  themselves  luxurious  and  disso- 
lute, their  monasteries  were  fortresses,  in  which  only 
the  great  political  gamblers,  and  not  the  oppressed 
people,  found  comfort  and  help.  Millions  of  once  fertile 
acres  had  been  abandoned  or  left  waste.  The  destruc- 
tion of  libraries,  books  and  records  is  something  awful 
to  contemplate ;  and  "  the  times  of  Ashikaga  "  make 
a  wilderness  for  the  scapegoat  of  chronology.  Kioto, 
the  sacred  capital,  had  been  again  and  again  plundered 
and  burnt.  Those  who  might  be  tempted  to  live  in 
the  city  amid  the  ruins,  ran  the  risk  of  fire,  murder,  or 


328  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

starvation.     Kamakura,  once  the  Sho-gun's  seat  of  au- 
thority, was  a  level  waste  of  ashes. 

Even  China,  Annam  and  Korea  suffered  from  the 
practical  dissolution  of  society  in  the  island  empire ; 
for  Japanese  pirates  ravaged  their  coasts  to  steal,  burn 
and  kill.  Even  as  for  centuries  in  Europe,  Christian 
churches  echoed  with  that  prayer  in  the  litanies :  "  From 
the  fury  of  the  Norsemen,  good  Lord,  deliver  us,"  so, 
along  large  parts  of  the  deserted  coasts  of  Chinese 
Asia,  the  wretched  inhabitants  besought  their  gods  to 
avenge  them  against  the  "Wojen."  To  this  day  in 
parts  of  Honan  in  China,  mothers  frighten  their  chil- 
dren and  warn  them  to  sleep  by  the  fearful  words 
"  The  Japanese  are  coming." 

First  Coming  of  Europeans. 

This  time,  then,  was  that  of  darkest  Japan.  Yet  the 
people  who  lived  in  darkness  saw  great  light,  and  to 
them  that  dwelt  in  the  shadow  of  death,  light  sprang 
up. 

When  Pope  Alexander  VI.  bisected  the  known  world, 
assigning  the  western  half,  including  America  to 
Spain,  and  the  eastern  half,  including  Asia  and  its  out- 
lying archipelagos  to  the  Portuguese,  the  latter  sailed 
and  fought  their  way  around  Africa  to  India,  and  past 
the  golden  Chersonese.  In  1542,  exactly  fifty  years 
after  the  discovery  of  America,  Dai  Nippon  was 
reached.  Mendez  Pinto,  on  a  Chinese  pirate  junk 
which  had  been  driven  by  a  storm  away  from  her  com- 
panions, set  foot  upon  an  island  called  Tanegasbima. 
This  name  among  the  country  folks  is  still  synonymous 
with  guns  and  pistols,  for  Pinto  introduced  fire-arms 
and  powder.3 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      329 

During  six  months  spent  by  the  "mendacious" 
Pinto  on  the  island,  the  imitative  people  made  no  fewer 
than  six  hundred  match-locks  or  arquebuses.  Clear- 
ing twelve  hundred  per  cent,  on  their  cargo,  the  three 
Portuguese  loaded  with  presents,  returned  to  China. 
Their  countrymen  quickly  flocked  to  this  new  market, 
and  soon  the  beginnings  of  regular  trade  with  Portugal 
were  inaugurated.  On  the  other  hand,  Japanese  began 
to  be  found  as  far  west  as  India.  To  Malacca,  while 
Francis  Xavier  was  laboring  there,  came  a  refugee  Jap- 
anese, named  Anjiro.  The  disciple  of  Loyola,  and  this 
child  of  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun  met.  Xavier,  ever 
restless  and  ready  for  a  new  field,  was  fired  with  the 
idea  of  converting  Japan.  Anjiro,  after  learning  Portu- 
guese and  becoming  a  Christian,  was  baptized  with 
the  name  of  Paul.  The  heroic  missionary  of  the  cross 
and  keys  then  sailed  with  his  Japanese  companion,  and 
in  1549  landed  at  Kagoshima,4  the  capital  of  Satsuma. 
As  there  was  no  central  government  then  existing  in 
Japan,  the  entrance  of  the  foreigners,  both  lay  and 
clerical,  was  unnoticed. 

Having  no  skill  in  the  learning  of  languages,  and 
never  able  to  master  one  foreign  tongue  completely, 
Xavier  began  work  with  the  aid  of  an  interpreter. 
The  jealousy  of  the  daimio,  because  his  rivals  had  been 
supplied  with  fire-arms  by  the  Portuguese  merchants, 
and  the  plots  and  warnings  of  those  Buddhist  priests 
(who  were  later  crushed  by  the  Satsuma  clansmen  as 
traitors),  compelled  Xavier  to  leave  this  province.  He 
went  first  to  Hirado,5  next  to  Nagato,  and  then  to 
Bungo,  where  he  was  well  received.  Preaching  and 
teaching  through  his  Japanese  interpreter,  he  formed 
Christian  congregations,  especially  at  Yamaguchi.6 


330  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Thus,  within  a  year,  the  great  apostle  to  the  Indies 
had  seen  the  quick  sprouting  of  the  seed  which  he  had 
planted.  His  ambition  was  now  to  go  to  the  imperial 
capital,  Kioto,  and  there  advocate  the  claims  of  Christ, 
of  Mary  and  of  the  Pope. 

Thus  far,  however,  Xavier  had  seen  only  a  few  sea- 
ports of  comparatively  successful  daimios.  Though 
he  had  heard  of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country 
because  of  the  long-continued  intestine  strife,  he  evi- 
dently expected  to  find  the  capital  a  splendid  city. 
Despite  the  armed  bands  of  roving  robbers  and  sol- 
diers, he  reached  Kioto  safely,  only  to  find  streets  cov- 
ered with  ruins,  rubbish  and  unburied  corpses,  and  a 
general  situation  of  wretchedness.  He  was  unable  to 
obtain  audience  of  either  the  Shoguu  or  the  Mikado. 
Even  in  those  parts  of  the  city  where  he  tried  to 
preach,  he  could  obtain  no  hearers  in  this  time  of  war 
and  confusion.  So  after  two  weeks  he  turned  his  face 
again  southward  to  Bungo,  where  he  labored  for  a  few 
months ;  but  in  less  than  two  years  from  his  landing  in 
Japan,  this  noble  but  restless  missionary  left  the  coun- 
try, to  attempt  the  spiritual  conquest  of  China.  One 
year  later,  December  2,  1551,  he  died  on  the  island 
of  Shanshan,  or  Sancian,  in  the  Canton  River,  a  few 
miles  west  of  Macao. 

Christianity  Flourishes. 

Nevertheless,  Xavier's  inspiring  example  was  like 
a  shining  star  that  attracted  scores  of  missionaries. 
There  being  in  this  time  of  political  anarchy  and  re- 
ligious paralysis  none  to  oppose  them,  their  zeal, 
within  five  years,  bore  surprising  fruits.  They  wrote 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      331 

home  that  there  were  seven  churches  in  the  region 
around  Kioto,  while  a  score  or  more  of  Christian  con- 
gregations had  been  gathered  in  the  southwest.  In 
1581  there  were  two  hundred  churches  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  native  Christians.  Two  dai- 
mios  had  confessed  their  faith,  and  in  the  Mikado's 
minister,  Nobunaga  (1534-1582),  the  foreign  priests 
found  a  powerful  supporter.7  This  hater  and  scourge 
of  the  Buddhist  priesthood  openly  welcomed  and  pat- 
ronized the  Christians,  and  gave  them  eligible  sites 
on  which  to  build  dwellings  and  churches.  In  every 
possible  way  he  employed  the  new  force,  which  he 
found  pliantly  political,  as  well  as  intellectually  and 
morally  a  choice  weapon  for  humbling  the  bonzes, 
whom  he  hated  as  serpents.  The  Buddhist  church 
militant  had  become  an  army  with  banners  and  for- 
tresses. Nobunaga  made  it  the  aim  of  his  life  to  de- 
stroy the  military  power  of  the  hierarchy,  and  to  hum- 
ble the  priests  for  all  time.  He  hoped  at  least  to 
extract  the  fangs  of  what  he  believed  to  be  a  politico- 
religious  monster,  which  menaced  the  life  of  the  na- 
tion. Unfortunately,  he  was  assassinated  in  1582.  To 
this  day  the  memory  of  Nobunaga  is  execrated  by  the 
Buddhists.  They  have  deified  Kato  Kiy omasa  and 
lyeyasu,  the  persecutors  of  the  Christians.  To  No- 
bunaga they  give  the  title  of  Bakadono,  or  Lord  Fool. 
In  1583,  an  embassy  of  four  young  noblemen  was 
despatched  by  the  Christian  daimios  of  Kiushiu,  the 
second  largest  island  in  the  empire,  to  the  Pope  to  de- 
clare themselves  spiritual — though  as  some  of  their 
countrymen  suspected,  political — vassals  of  the  Holy 
See.  It  was  in  the  three  provinces  of  Bungo,  Omura 
and  Arima,  that  Christianity  was  most  firmly  rooted. 


332  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

After  an  absence  of  eight  years,  in  1590,  the  envoys 
from  the  oriental  to  the  occidental  ends  of  the  earth, 
returned  to  Nagasaki,  accompanied  by  seventeen  more 
Jesuit  fathers — an  important  addition  to  the  many 
Portuguese  "  religious  "  of  that  order  already  in  Japan. 

Yet,  although  there  was  to  be  still  much  missionary 
activity,  though  printing  presses  had  been  brought 
from  Europe  for  the  proper  diffusion  of  Christian  lit- 
erature in  the  Romanized  colloquial,8  though  there 
were  yet  to  be  built  more  church  edifices  and  monas- 
teries, and  Christian  schools  to  be  established,  a  sad 
change  was  nigh.  Much  seed  which  was  yet  to  grow 
in  secret  had  been  planted, — like  the  exotic  flowers 
which  even  yet  blossom  and  shed  their  perfume  in  cer- 
tain districts  of  Japan,  and  which  the  traveller  from 
Christendom  instantly  recognizes,  though  the  Portu- 
guese Christian  church  or  monastery  centuries  ago  dis- 
appeared in  fire,  or  fell  to  the  earth  and  disappeared. 
Though  there  were  to  be  yet  wonderful  flashes  of 
Christian  success,  and  the  missionaries  were  to  travel 
over  Japan  even  up  to  the  end  of  the  main  island  and 
accompany  the  Japanese  army  to  Korea  ;  yet  it  may  be 
said  that  with  the  death  of  Nobunaga  at  the  hands  of 
the  traitor  Akechi,  we  see  the  high-water  mark  of  the 
flood-tide  of  Japanese  Christianity.  "  Akechi  reigned 
three  days,"  but  after  him  were  to  arise  a  ruler  and  cen- 
tral government  jealous  and  hostile.  After  this  flood 
was  to  come  slowly  but  surely  the  ebb-tide,  until  it 
should  leave,  outwardly  at  least,  all  things  as  before. 

The  Jesuit  fathers,  with  instant  sensitiveness,  felt 
the  loss  of  their  champion  and  protector,  Nobunaga. 
The  rebel  and  assassin,  Akechi,  ambitious  to  imitate 
and  excel  his  master,  promised  the  Christians  to  do 


A  CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      333 

more  for  them  even  than  Nobunaga  had  done,  provided 
they  would  induce  the  daimio  Takayama  to  join  forces 
with  his.  It  is  the  record  of  their  own  friendly  his- 
torian, and  not  of  an  enemy,  that  they,  led  by  the  Jes- 
uit father  Organtin,  attempted  this  persuasion.  To  the 
honor  of  the  Christian  Japanese  Takayama,  he  refused.9 
On  the  contrary,  he  marched  his  little  army  of  a  thou- 
sand men  to  Kioto,  and,  though  opposed  to  a  force  of 
eight  thousand,  held  the  capital  city  until  Hideyoshi, 
the  loyal  general  of  the  Mikado,  reached  the  court  city 
and  dispersed  the  assassin's  band.  Hideyoshi  soon 
made  himself  familiar  with  the  whole  story,  and  his 
keen  eye  took  in  the  situation. 

This  "man  on  horseback,"  master  of  the  situation 
and  moulder  of  the  destinies  of  Japan,  Hideyoshi 
(1536-1598),  was  afterward  known  as  the  Taiko,  or 
Retired  Regent.  The  rarity  of  the  title  makes  it  ap- 
plicable in  common  speech  to  this  one  person.  Greater 
than  his  dead  master,  Nobunaga,  and  ingenious  in  the 
arts  of  war  and  peace,  Hideyoshi  compelled  the  warring 
daimios,  even  the  proud  lord  of  Satsuma,10  to  yield  to 
his  power,  until  the  civil  minister  of  the  emperor,  rev- 
erently bowing,  could  say  :  "  All  under  Heaven,  Peace." 
Now,  Japan  had  once  more  a  central  government,  in- 
tensely jealous  and  despotic,  and  with  it  the  new  re- 
ligion must  sooner  or  later  reckon.  Religion  apart 
from  politics  was  unknown  in  the  Land  of  the  Gods. 

Yet,  in  order  to  employ  the  vast  bodies  of  armed 
men  hitherto  accustomed  to  the  trade  of  war,  and 
withal  jealous  of  China  and  hostile  to  Korea,  Hideyo- 
shi planned  the  invasion  of  the  little  peninsular  king- 
dom by  these  veterans  whose  swords  were  restless  in 
their  scabbards.  After  months  of  preparation,  he  de- 


334:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

spatched  an  army  in  two  great  divisions,  one  under 
the  Christian  general  Konishi,  and  one  under  the 
Buddhist  general  Kato.  After  a  brilliant  campaign 
of  eighteen  days,  the  rivals,  taking  different  routes, 
met  in  the  Korean  capital,  in  the  masterly  campaign 
which  followed,  the  Japanese  armies  penetrated  almost 
to  the  extreme  northern  boundary  of  the  kingdom. 
Then  China  came  to  the  rescue  and  the  Japanese  were 
driven  southward. 

During  the  six  or  seven  years  of  war,  while  the  in- 
vaders crossed  swords  with  the  natives  and  their  Chi- 
nese allies,  and  devastated  Korea  to  an  extent  from 
which  she  has  never  recovered,  there  were  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries attending  the  Japanese  armies.  It  is  not 
possible  or  even  probable,  however,  that  any  seeds  of 
Christianity  were  at  this  time  left  in  the  peninsula. 
Korean  Christianity  sprang  up  nearly  two  centuries 
later,  wind-wafted  from  China.11 

During  the  war  there  was  always  more  or  less  of 
jealousy,  mostly  military  and  personal,  between  Koni- 
shi and  Kato,  which  however  was  aggravated  by  the 
priests  on  either  side.  Kato,  being  then  and  afterward 
a  fierce  champion  of  the  Buddhists,  glorified  in  his 
orthodoxy,  which  was  that  of  the  Nichiren  sect.  He 
went  into  battle  with  a  banneret  full  of  texts,  stuck  in 
his  back  and  flying  behind  him.  His  example  was 
copied  by  hundreds  of  his  officers  and  soldiers.  On 
their  flags  and  guidons  was  inscribed  the  famous  apos- 
trophe of  the  Nichiren  sect,  so  often  heard  in  their  ser- 
vices and  revivals  to-day  (Namu  miyo  ho  ren  ge  kio), 
and  borrowed  from  the  Saddharma  Pundarika :  "  Glory 
be  to  the  salvation-bringing  Lotus  of  the  True  Law." 


A  CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      335 


The  Hostility  of  Hideyoshi. 

Konishi,  on  the  other  hand,  was  less  numerously 
and  perhaps  less  influentially  backed  by,  and  made  the 
champion  of,  the  European  brethren;  and  as  all  the 
negotiations  between  the  invaders  and  the  allied  Kor- 
eans and  Chinese  had  to  be  conducted  in  the  Chinese 
script,  the  alien  fathers  were,  as  secretaries  and  inter- 
preters, less  useful  than  the  native  Japanese  bonzes. 

Yet  this  jealousy  and  hostility  in  the  camps  of  the 
invaders  proved  to  be  only  correlative  to  the  state  of 
things  in  Japan.  Even  supposing  the  statistics  in 
round  numbers,  reported  at  that  time,  to  be  exagger- 
ated, and  that  there  were  not  as  many  as  the  alleged 
two  hundred  thousand  Christians,  yet  there  were, 
besides  scores  of  thousands  of  confessing  believers 
among  the  common  people,  daimios,  military  leaders, 
court  officers  and  many  persons  of  culture  and  influ- 
ence. Nevertheless,  the  predominating  influence  at 
the  Kioto  court  was  that  of  Buddhism ;  and  as  the  cult 
that  winks  at  polygamy  was  less  opposed  to  Hideyo- 
shi's  sensualism  and  amazing  vanity,  the  illustrious  up- 
start was  easily  made  hostile  to  the  alien  faith.  Ac- 
cording to  the  accounts  of  the  Jesuits,  he  took  umbrage 
because  a  Portuguese  captain  would  not  please  him  by 
risking  his  ship  in  coming  out  of  deep  water  and  near- 
er land,  and  because  there  were  Christian  maidens  of 
Arima  who  scorned  to  yield  to  his  degrading  proposals. 
Some  time  after  these  episodes,  an  edict  appeared, 
commanding  every  Jesuit  to  quit  the  country  within 
twenty  days.  There  were  at  this  time  sixty-five  foreign, 
missionaries  in  the  country. 


336  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Then  began  a  series  of  persecutions,  which,  how- 
ever, were  carried  on  spasmodically  and  locally,  but  not 
universally  or  with  system.  Bitter  in  some  places, 
they  were  neutralized  or  the  law  became  a  dead  letter, 
in  other  parts  of  the  realm.  It  is  estimated  that  ten 
thousand  new  converts  were  made  in  the  single  year, 
1589,  that  is,  the  second  year  after  the  issue  of  the 
edict,  and  again  in  the  next  year,  1590.  It  might  even 
be  reasonable  to  suppose  that,  had  the  work  been  con- 
ducted wisely  and  without  the  too  open  defiance  of  the 
letter  of  the  law,  the  awful  sequel  which  history  knows, 
might  not  have  been. 

Let  us  remember  that  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  tool  of 
Philip  II.,  failing  to  crush  the  Dutoh  Eepublic  had 
conquered  Portugal  for  his  master.  The  two  kingdoms 
of  the  Iberian  peninsula  were  now  united  under  one 
crown.  Spain  longed  for  trade  with  Japan,  and  while 
her  merchants  hoped  to  displace  their  Portuguese 
rivals,  the  Spanish  Franciscans  not  scrupling  to  wear 
a  political  cloak  and  thus  override  the  Pope's  bull  of 
world-partition,  determined  to  get  a  foothold  along- 
side of  the  Jesuits.  So,  in  1593  a  Spanish  envoy  of 
the  governor  of  the  Philippine  Islands  came  to  Kioto, 
bringing  four  Spanish  Franciscan  priests,  who  were 
allowed  to  build  houses  in  Kioto,  but  only  on  the  ex- 
press understanding  that  this  was  because  of  their 
coming  as  envoys  of  a  friendly  power,  and  with  the 
explicitly  specified  condition  that  they  were  not  to 
preach,  either  publicly  or  privately.  Almost  imme- 
diately violating  their  pledge  and  the  hospitality 
granted  them,  these  Spaniards,  wearing  the  vestments 
of  their  order,  openly  preached  in  the  streets.  Be- 
sides exciting  discord  among  the  Christian  congrega- 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      337 

tions  founded  by  the  Jesuits,  they  were  violent  in  their 
language. 

Hideyoshi,  to  gratify  his  own  mood  and  test  his  pow- 
er as  the  actual  ruler  for  a  shadowy  emperor,  seized 
nine  preachers  while  they  were  building  churches  at 
Kioto  and  Osaka.  They  were  led  to  the  execution- 
ground  in  exactly  the  same  fashion  as  felons,  and  ex- 
ecuted by  crucifixion,  at  Nagasaki,  February  5,  1597. 
Three  Portuguese  Jesuits,  six  Spanish  Franciscans  and 
seventeen  native  Christians  were  stretched  on  bamboo 
crosses,  and  their  bodies  from  thigh  to  shoulder  were 
transfixed  with  spears.  They  met  their  doom  uncom- 
plainingly. 

In  the  eye  of  the  Japanese  law,  these  men  were  put 
to  death,  not  as  Christians,  but  as  law-breakers  and  as 
dangerous  political  conspirators.  The  suspicions  of 
Hideyoshi  were  further  confirmed  by  a  Spanish  sea- 
captain,  who  showed  him  a  map  of  the  world  on  which 
were  marked  the  vast  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain  ; 
the  Spaniard  informing  the  Japanese,  in  answer  to  his 
shrewd  question,  that  these  great  conquests  had  been 
made  by  the  king's  soldiers  following  up  the  priests, 
the  work  being  finished  by  the  native  and  foreign  al- 
lies. 

The  Political  Character  of  Roman  Christianity. 

The  Eoman  Catholic  "Histoire  del'  £glise  Chreti- 
enne  "  shows  the  political  character  of  the  missionary 
movement  in  Japan,  a  character  almost  inextricably  as- 
sociated with  the  papal  and  other  political  Chistianity 
of  the  times,  when  State  and  Church  were  united  in  all 
the  countries  of  Europe,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant. 
Even  republican  Holland,  leader  of  toleration  and 


338  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

forerunner  of  the  modern  Christian  spirit,  permitted, 
indeed,  the  Koman  Catholics  to  worship  in  private 
houses  or  in  sacred  edifices  not  outwardly  resembling 
churches,  but  prohibited  all  public  processions  and 
ceremonies,  because  religion  and  politics  at  that  time 
were  as  Siamese  twins.  Only  the  Anabaptists  held 
the  primitive  Christian  and  the  American  doctrine  of 
the  separation  of  politics  from  ecclesiasticism.  Except 
in  the  country  ruled  by  William  the  Silent,  all  magis- 
trates meddled  with  men's  consciences.12 

In  1597,  Hideyoshi  died,  and  the  missionaries  took 
heart  again.  The  Christian  soldiers  returning  by 
thousands  from  Korea,  declared  themselves  in  favor  of 
Hideyori,  son  of  the  dead  Taiko.  Encouraged  by 
those  in  power,  and  by  the  rising  star  lyeyasu  (1542- 
1616),  the  fathers  renewed  their  work  and  the  number 
of  converts  increased. 

Though  peace  reigned,  the  political  situation  was 
one  of  the  greatest  uncertainty,  and  with  two  hundred 
thousand  soldiers  gathered  around  Kioto,  under  scores 
of  ambitious  leaders,  it  was  hard  to  keep  the  sword 
in  the  sheath.  Soon  the  line  of  cleavage  found  lye- 
yasu and  his  northern  captains  on  one  side,  and  most 
of  the  Christian  leaders  and  southern  daimios  on  the 
other.  In  October,  1600,  with  seventy-five  thousand 
men,  the  future  unifier  of  Japan  stood  on  the  ever- 
memorable  field  of  Sekigahara.  The  opposing  army, 
led  largely  by  Christian  commanders,  left  their  fortress 
to  meet  the  one  whom  they  considered  a  usurper,  in 
the  open  field.  In  the  battle  which  ensued,  probably 
the  most  decisive  ever  fought  on  the  soil  of  Japan,  ten 
thousand  men  lost  their  lives.  The  leading  Christian 
generals,  beaten>  but  refusing  out  of  principle  because. 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      339 

they  were  Christians,  to  take  their  own  lives  by  hara- 
kiri,  knelt  willingly  at  the  common  blood-pit  and  had 
their  heads  stricken  off  by  the  executioner. 

Then  began  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  empire, 
and  then  were  laid  by  lyeyasu  the  foundation-lines 
upon  which  the  Japan  best  known  to  Europe  has  ex- 
isted for  nearly  three  centuries.  The  creation  of  a  cen- 
tral executive  government  strong  enough  to  rule  the 
whole  empire,  and  hold  down  even  the  southern  and 
southwestern  daimios,  made  it  still  worse  for  the  con- 
verts of  the  European  teachers,  because  in  the  Land  of 
the  Gods  government  is  ever  intensely  pagan. 

In  adjusting  the  feudal  relations  of  his  vassals  in 
Kiushiu,  lyeyasu  made  great  changes,  and  thus  the 
political  status  of  the  Christians  was  profoundly  al- 
tered. The  new  daimios,  carrying  out  the  policy  of 
their  predecessors  who  had  been  taught  by  the  Jes- 
uits, but  reversing  its  direction,  began  to  persecute 
their  Christian  subjects,  and  to  compel  them  to  re- 
nounce their  faith.  One  of  the  leading  opposers  of  the 
Christians  and  their  most  cruel  persecutor,  was  Kato, 
the  zealous  Nichirenite.  Like  Brandt,  the  famous 
Iroquois  Indian,  who,  in  the  Mohawk  Yalley  is  exe- 
crated as  a  bloodthirsty  brute,  and  on  the  Canadian 
side  is  honored  with  a  marble  statue  and  considered 
not  only  as  the  translator  of  the  prayer-book  but  also 
as  a  saint ;  even  also  as  Claverhouse,  who,  in  Scotland  is 
looked  upon  as  a  murderous  demon,  but  in  England  as 
a  conscientious  and  loyal  patriot ;  so  Kato,  the  vir  ter 
execrandus  of  the  Jesuits,  is  worshipped  in  his  shrine  at 
the  Nichiren  temple  at  Ikegami,  near  Tokio,13  and  is 
praised  by  native  historians  as  learned,  brave  and  time. 

The  Christians  of  Kiushiu,  in  a  few  cases,  actually 


340  THE  RELIGIONS  OP  JAPAN 

took  up  arms  against  their  new  rulers  and  oppressors, 
though  it  was  a  new  thing  under  the  Japanese  sun  for 
peasantry  to  oppose  not  only  civil  servants  of  the  law, 
but  veterans  in  armor.  lyeyasu,  now  having  time  to 
give  his  attention  wholly  to  matters  of  government  and 
to  examine  the  new  forces  that  had  entered  Japanese 
life,  followed  Hideyoshi  in  the  suspicion  that,  under 
the  cover  of  the  western  religion,  there  lurked  political 
designs.  He  thought  he  saw  confirmation  of  his  theo- 
ries, because  the  foreigners  still  secretly  or  openly  paid 
court  to  Hideyori,  and  at  the  same  time  freely  disbursed 
gifts  and  gold  as  well  as  comfort  to  the  persecuted. 
Resolving  to  crush  the  spirit  of  independence  in  the 
converts  and  to  intimidate  the  foreign  emissaries,  lye- 
yasii  with  steel  and  blood  put  down  every  outbreak,  and 
at  last,  in  1606,  issued  his  edict 14  prohibiting  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  Quarrels  of  the  Christians. 

About  the  same  time,  Protestant  influences  began  to 
work  against  the  papal  emissaries.  The  new  forces 
from  the  triumphant  Dutch  republic,  which  having 
successfully  defied  Spain  for  a  whole  generation  had 
reached  Japan  even  before  the  Great  Truce,  were  op- 
posed to  the  Spaniards  and  to  the  influence  of  both 
Jesuits  and  Franciscans.  Hollanders  at  Lisbon,  ob- 
taining from  the  Spanish  archives  charts  and  geograph- 
ical information,  had  boldly  sailed  out  into  the  Eastern 
seas,  and  carried  the  orange  white  and  blue  flag  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  even  to  Nippon.  Between  Prince 
Maurice,  son  of  "William  the  Silent,  and  the  envoys  of 
lyeyasu,  there  was  made  a  league  of  commerce  as  well 
as  of  peace  and  friendship.  Will  Adams,15  the  English 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      341 

pilot  of  the  Dutch  ships,  by  his  information  given  to 
lyeyasu,  also  helped  much  to  destroy  the  Jesuits  influ- 
ence and  to  hurt  their  cause,  while  both  the  Dutch  and 
English  were  ever  busy  in  disseminating  both  correct 
information  and  polemic  exaggeration,  forging  letters 
and  delivering  up  to  death  by  fire  the  padres  when  cap- 
tured at  sea. 

In  general,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  while  Chris- 
tian converts  and  the  priests  were  roughly  handled  in 
the  South,  yet  there  was  considerable  missionary  ac- 
tivity and  success  in  the  North.  Converts  were  made 
and  Christian  congregations  were  gathered  in  regions 
remote  from  Kioto  and  Yedo,  which  latter  place,  like 
St.  Petersburg  in  the  West,  was  being  made  into  a 
large  city.  Even  outlying  islands,  such  as  Sado,  had 
their  churches  and  congregations. 

The  Anti- Christian  Policy  of  the  Tolcugawas. 

The  quarrels  between  the  Franciscans  and  Jesuits,16 
however,  were  probably  more  harmful  to  Christianity 
than  were  the  whispers  of  the  Protestant  Englishmen  or 
Hollanders.  In  1610,  the  wrath  of  the  government  was 
especially  aroused  against  the  bateren,  as  the  people 
called  the  padres,  by  their  open  and  persistent  viola- 
tion of  Japanese  law.  In  1611,  from  Sado,  to  which 
island  thousands  of  Christian  exiles  had  been  sent  to 
work  the  mines,  lyeyasu  believed  he  had  obtained 
documentary  proof  in  the  Japanese  language,  of  what 
he  had  long  suspected — the  existence  of  a  plot  on  the 
part  of  the  native  converts  and  the  foreign  emissaries 
to  reduce  Japan  to  the  position  of  a  subject  state,17 
Putting  forth  strenuous  measures  to  root  out  utterly 


342  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

what  lie  believed  to  be  a  pestilential  breeder  of  sedition 
and  war,  the  Yedo  Shogun  advanced  step  by  step  to 
that  great  proclamation  of  January  27,  1614, 18  in  which 
the  foreign  priests  were  branded  as  triple  enemies — of 
the  country,  of  the  Kami,  and  of  the  Buddhas.  This 
proclamation  wound  up  with  the  charge  that  the  Chris- 
tian band  had  come  to  Japan  to  change  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  and  to  usurp  possession  of  it. 
Whether  or  not  he  really  had  sufficient  written  proof 
of  conspiracy  against  the  nation's  sovereignty,  it  is 
certain  that  in  this  state  paper,  lyeyasti  shrewdly 
touched  the  springs  of  Japanese  patriotism.  Not  de- 
siring, however,  to  shed  blood  or  provoke  war,  he 
tried  transportation.  Three  hundred  persons,  namely, 
twenty-two  Franciscans,  Dominicans  and  Augustines, 
one  hundred  and  seventeen  foreign  Jesuits,  and  nearly 
two  hundred  native  priests  and  catechists,  were  ar- 
rested, sent  to  Nagasaki,  and  thence  shipped  like 
bundles  of  combustibles  to  Macao. 

Yet,  as  many  of  the  foreign  and  native  Christian 
teachers  hid  themselves  in  the  country  and  as  others 
who  had  been  banished  returned  secretly  and  con- 
tinued the  work  of  propaganda,  the  crisis  had  not  yet 
come.  Some  of  the  Jesuit  priests,  even,  were  still  hop- 
ing that  Hideyori  would  mount  to  power  ;  but  in  1615, 
lyeyasu,  finding  a  pretext  for  war,19  called  out  a  power- 
ful army  and  laid  siege  to  the  great  castle  of  Osaka, 
the  most  imposing  fortress  in  the  country.  In  the 
brief  war  which  ensued,  it  is  said  by  the  Jesuit 
fathers,  that  one  hundred  thousand  men  perished.  On 
June  9,  1615,  the  castle  was  captured  and  the  citadel 
burned.  After  thousands  of  Hideyori's  followers  had 
committed  hara-kiri,  and  his  own  body  had  been 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      343 

burned  into  ashes,  the  Christian  cause  was  irretriev- 
ably ruined. 

Hidetada,  the  successor  of  lyeyasii  in  Yedo,  who  ruled 
from  1605  to  1622,  seeing  that  his  father's  peaceful 
methods  had  failed  in  extirpating  the  alien  politico-re- 
ligious doctrine,  now  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on 
every  foreigner,  priest,  or  catechist  found  in  the  coun- 
try. The  story  of  the  persecutions  and  horrible  suffer- 
ings that  ensued  is  told  in  the  voluminous  literature 
which  may  be  gathered  from  every  country  in  Europe  j20 
though  from  the  Japanese  side  "  The  Catholic  martyr- 
ology  of  Japan  is  still  an  untouched  field  fora  [native] 
historian." 21  All  the  church  edifices  which  the  last 
storm  had  left  standing  were  demolished,  and  temples, 
and  pagodas  were  erected  upon  their  ruins.  In  1617,, 
foreign  commerce  was  restricted  to  Hirado  and  Naga- 
saki. In  1621,  Japanese  were  forbidden  ever  to  leave 
the  country.  In  1624,  all  ships  having  a  capacity  of 
over  twenty -five  hundred  bushels  were  burned,  and  no> 
craft,  except  those  of  the  size  of  ordinary  junks,  were 
allowed  to.  be  built, 

The  Books  of  the  Inferno  Opened. 

For  years,  at  intervals  and  in  places,  the  books  of 
the  Inferno  were  opened,  and  the  tortures  devised  by 
the  native  pagans  and  Buddhists  equalled  in  their 
horror  those  which  Dante  imagines,  until  finally,  in 
1636,  even  Japanese  human  nature,  accustomed  for 
ages  to  subordination  and  submission,  could  stand  it 
no  longer.  Then  a  man  named  Nirado  Shiro  raised 
the  banner  of  the  Virgin  and  called  on  all  Christians 
and  others  to  follow  him.  Probably  as  many  as  thirty 


344  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

thousand  men,  women  and  children,  but  without  a 
single  foreigner,  lay  or  clerical,  among  them,  gathered 
from  parts  of  Kiushiu.  After  burning  Shinto  and 
Buddhist  temples,  they  fortified  an  old  abandoned 
castle  at  Shimabara,  resolving  to  die  rather  than  sub- 
mit. Against  an  army  of  veterans,  led  by  skilled  com- 
manders, the  fortress  held  out  during  four  months. 
At  last,  after  a  bloody  assault,  it  was  taken,  and  men, 
women  and  children  were  slaughtered.22  Thousands 
suffered  death  at  the  point  of  the  spear  and  sword; 
many  were  thrown  into  the  sea;  and  others  were  cast 
into  boiling  hot  springs,  emblems  of  the  eight  Buddh- 
ist Hells. 

All  efforts  were  now  put  forth  to  uproot  not  only 
Christianity  but  also  everything  of  foreign  planting. 
The  Portuguese  were  banished  and  the  death  penalty 
declared  against  all  who  should  return.  The  ai  no  ko, 
or  half-breed  children,  were  collected  and  shipped  by 
hundreds  to  Macao.  All  persons  adopting  or  harbor- 
ing Eurasians  were  to  be  banished,  and  their  relatives 
punished.  The  Christian  cause  now  became  like  the 
doomed  city  of  Babylon  or  like  the  site  of  Nineveh, 
which,  buried  in  the  sand  and  covered  with  the  deso- 
lation and  silence  of  centuries,  became  lost  to  the 
memory  of  the  world,  so  that  even  the  very  record  of 
scripture  was  the  jest  of  the  infidel,  until  the  spade  of 
Layard  brought  them  again  to  resurrection.  So,  Jap- 
anese Christianity,  having  vanished  in  blood,  was 
supposed  to  have  no  existence,  thus  furnishing  Mr. 
Lecky  with  arguments  to  prove  the  extirpative  power 
of  persecution.23 

Yet  in  1859,  on  the  opening  of  the  country  by  treaty, 
the  Eoman  Catholic  fathers  at  Nagasaki  found  to  theii 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      345 

surprise  that  they  were  re-opening  the  old  mines,  and 
that  their  work  was  in  historic  continuity  with  that  of 
their  predecessors.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  had  been 
the  seed  of  the  church.  Amid  much  ignorance  and 
darkness,  there  were  thousands  of  people  who,  through 
the  Virgin,  worshipped  God ;  who  talked  of  Jesus,  and 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  who  refused  to  worship  at  the 
pagan  shrines.24 

Summary  of  Roman  Christianity  in  Japan. 

Let  us  now  strive  impartially  to  appraise  the  Chris- 
tianity of  this  era,  and  inquire  what  it  found,  what  it 
attempted  to  do,  what  it  did  not  strive  to  attain,  what 
was  the  character  of  its  propagators,  what  was  the 
mark  it  made  upon  the  country  and  upon  the  mind  of 
the  people,  and  whether  it  left  any  permanent  influ- 
ence. 

The  gospel  net  which  had  gathered  all  sorts  of  fish 
in  Europe  brought  a  varied  quality  of  spoil  to  Japan. 
Among  the  Portuguese  missionaries,  beginning  with 
Xavier,  there  are  many  noble  and  beautiful  characters, 
who  exemplified  in  their  motives,  acts,  lives  and  suffer- 
ings some  of  the  noblest  traits  of  both  natural  and  re- 
deemed humanity.  In  their  praise,  both  the  pagan  and 
the  Christian,  as  well  as  critics  biased  by  their  pre- 
possessions in  favor  either  of  the  Reformed  or  the  Ro- 
man phase  of  the  faith,  can  unite. 

The  character  of  the  native  converts  is,  in  many  in- 
stances, to  be  commended,  and  shows  the  direct  truth 
of  Christianity  in  fields  of  life  and  endeavor,  in  ethics 
and  in  conceptions,  far  superior  to  those  which  the  Jap- 
anese religious  systems  have  produced.  In  the  teach- 


346  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ing  that  there  should  be  but  one  standard  of  morality 
for  man  and  woman,  and  that  the  male  as  well  as  the 
female  should  be  pure  ;  in  the  condemnation  of  polyg- 
amy and  licentiousness ;  in  the  branding  of  suicide  as 
both  wicked  and  cowardly;  in  the  condemnation  of 
slavery  ;  and  in  the  training  of  men  and  women  to  lofty 
ideals  of  character,  the  Christian  teachers  far  excelled 
their  Buddhist  or  Confucian  rivals. 

The  benefits  which  Japan  received  through  the  com- 
ing of  the  Christian  missionaries,  as  distinct  and  sep- 
arate from  those  brought  by  commerce  and  the  mer- 
chants, are  not  to  be  ignored.  While  many  things  of 
value  and  influence  for  material  improvement,  and 
many  beneficent  details  and  elements  of  civilization 
were  undoubtedly  imported  by  traders,  yet  it  was 
the  priests  and  itinerant  missionaries  who  diffused  the 
knowledge  of  the  importance  of  these  things  and 
taught  their  use  throughout  the  country.  Although  in 
the  reaction  of  hatred  and  bitterness,  and  in  the  minute, 
universal  and  long-continued  suppression  by  the  gov- 
ernment, most  of  this  advantage  was  destroyed,  yet 
some  things  remained  to  influence  thought  and  speech, 
and  to  leave  a  mark  not  only  on  the  language,  but 
also  on  the  procedure  of  daily  life.  One  can  trace 
notable  modifications  of  Japanese  life  from  this  pe- 
riod, lasting  through  the  centuries  and  even  until  the 
present  time. 

Christianity,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  came  to  Japan 
only  in  its  papal  or  Roman  Catholic  form.  "While  in 
it  was  infused  much  of  the  power  and  spirit  of  Loyola 
and  Xavier,  yet  the  impartial  critic  must  confess  that 
this  form  was  military,  oppressive  and  political.23 
Nevertheless,  though  it  was  impure  and  saturated  with 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY       347 

the  false  principles,  the  vices  and  the  embodied  super- 
stitions of  corrupt  southern  Europe,  yet,  such  as  it 
was,  Portuguese  Christianity  confronted  the  worst 
condition  of  affairs,  morally,  intellectually  and  materi- 
ally, which  Japan  has  known  in  historic  times.  De- 
fective as  the  critic  must  pronounce  the  system  of  re- 
ligion imported  from  Europe,  it  was  immeasurably 
superior  to  anything  that  the  Japanese  had  hitherto 
known. 

It  must  be  said,  also,  that  Portuguese  Christianity 
in  Japan  tried  to  do  something  more  than  the  mere 
obtaining  of  adherents  or  the  nominal  conversion  of 
the  people.26  It  attempted  to  purify  and  exalt  their 
life,  to  make  society  better,  to  improve  the  relations 
between  rulers  and  ruled;  but  it  did  not  attempt  to  do 
what  it  ought  to  have  done.  It  ignored  great  duties 
and  problems,  while  it  imitated  too  fully,  not  only 
the  example  of  the  kings  of  this  world  in  Europe 
but  also  of  the  rulers  in  Japan.  In  the  presence 
of  soldier-like  Buddhist  priests,  who  had  made  war 
their  calling,  it  would  have  been  better  if  the  Christian 
missionaries  had  avoided  their  bad  example,  and  fol- 
lowed only  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  but 
they  did  not.  On  the  contrary,  they  brought  with 
them  the  spirit  of  the  Inquisition  then  in  full  blast  in 
Spain  and  Portugal,  and  the  machinery  with  which 
they  had  been  familiar  for  the  reclamation  of  native 
and  Dutch  "  heretics."  Xavier,  while  at  Goa,  had  even 
invoked  the  secular  arm  to  set  up  the  Inquisition  in 
India,  and  doubtless  he  and  his  followers  would  have 
put  up  this  infernal  enginery  in  Japan  if  they  could 
have  done  so.  They  had  stamped  and  crushed  out. 
"  heresy  "  in  their  own  country,  by  a  system  of  hellish 


348  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tortures  which  in  its  horrible  details  is  almost  inde- 
scribable. The  rusty  relics  now  in  the  museums  of 
Europe,  but  once  used  in  church  discipline,  can  be 
fully  appreciated  only  by  a  physician  or  an  anatomist. 
In  Japan,  with  the  spirit  of  Alva  and  Philip  II.,  these 
believers  in  the  righteousness  of  the  Inquisition  at- 
tacked violently  the  character  of  native  bonzes,  and  in- 
cited their  converts  to  insult  the  gods,  destroy  the 
Buddhist  images,  and  burn  or  desecrate  the  old  shrines. 
They  persuaded  the  daimios,  when  these  lords  had  be- 
come Christians,  to  compel  their  subjects  to  embrace 
their  religion  on  pain  of  exile  or  banishment.  Whole 
districts  were  ordered  to  become  Christian.  The  bonzes 
were  exiled  or  killed,  and  fire  and  sword  as  well  as 
preaching,  were  employed  as  means  of  conversion.  In 
ready  imitation  of  the  Buddhists,  fictitious  miracles 
were  frequently  got  up  to  utilize  the  credulity  of  the 
superstitious  in  furthering  the  faith  —  all  of  which 
is  related  not  by  hostile  critics,  but  by  admiring  his- 
torians and  by  sympathizing  eye-witnesses.29 

The  most  prominent  feature  of  the  Roman  Catholi- 
cism of  Japan,  was  its  political  animus  and  complexion. 
In  writings  of  this  era,  Japanese  historians  treat  of  the 
Christian  missionary  movement  less  as  something  re- 
ligious, and  more  as  that  which  influenced  government 
and  politics,  rather  than  society  on  its  moral  side.  So 
also,  the  impartial  historian  must  consider  that  on  the 
whole,  despite  the  individual  instances  of  holy  lives 
and  unselfish  purposes,  the  work  of  the  Portuguese 
and  Spanish  friars  and  "  fathers  "  was,  in  the  main,  an 
attempt  to  bring  Japan  more  or  less  directly  within 
the  power  of  the  Pope  or  of  those  rulers  called 
Most  Catholic  Majesties,  Christian  Kings,  etc.,  even  as 


A   CENTURY  OF  ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY      349 

they  had  already  brought  Mexico,  South  America  and 
large  portions  of  India  under  the  same  control.  The 
words  of  Jesus  before  the  Koman  procurator  had  not 
been  apprehended :  —  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world." 


•\ 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF    SILENCE 


**  The  frog  in  the  well  knows  not  the  great  ocean." 

— Sanskrit,  and  Japanese  Proverb. 
"  When  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  fall  into  the  ditch." 

— Japanese  Proverb. 

"  The  little  island  of  Deshima,  well  and  prophetically  signifying  Fore- 
Island,  was  Japan's  window,  through  which  she  looked  at  the  whole  Occi- 
dent .  .  .  We  are  under  obligation  to  Holland  for  the  arts  of  engineer- 
ing, mining,  pharmacy,  astronomy,  and  medicine  .  .  .  '  Rangaku '  (i .e., 
Dutch  learning)  passed  almost  as  a  synonym  for  medicine."  [1015-1808]. — 
Inazo  Nitobe. 

"  The  great  peace,  of  which  we  are  so  proud,  was  more  like  the  stillness 
of  stagnant  pools  than  the  calm  surface  of  a  clear  lake." — Mitsukuii. 

41  The  ancestral  policy  of  self -contentment  must  be  done  away  with.  If 
it  was  adopted  by  your  forefathers,  because  it  was  wise  in  their  time,  why 
not  adopt  a  new  policy  if  it  is  sure  to  prove  wise  in  your  time." — Sakuma 
Shozan,  wrote  in  1841,  assassinated  1864. 

"  And  slowly  floating  onward  go 
Those  Black  Ships,  wave-tossed  to  and  fro." 

—Japanese  Ballad  of  the  Black  Ship,  1845. 

"The  next  day  was  Sunday  (July  10th),  and,  as  usual,  divine  service 
was  held  on  board  the  ships,  and,  in  accordance  with  proper  reverence  for 
the  day,  no  communication  was  held  with  the  Japanese  authorities." 
— Perry's  Narrative. 

"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow, 
Praise  Him,  all  creatures  here  below, 
Praise  Him  above,  ye  heavenly  host, 
Praise  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost." 

—Sung  on  U.  S.  S.  S.  Mississippi,  in  Yedo  Bay,  July  10,  1&53. 
"  I  refuse  to  see  anyone  on  Sunday,  I  am  resolved  to  set  an  example  of 
a  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath     ...     I  will  try  to  make  it  what  I 
believe  it  was  intended  to  be — a  day  of  rest." — Townsend  Harris's  Diary, 
Sunday,  August  31,  1856. 

"I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name.  I  have  surnamed  thee,  though  thou 
hast  not  known  me.  I  am  the  LORD,  and  there  is  none  else  ;  besides  me 
there  is  no  God." — Isaiah. 

"I  saw  underneath  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  had  been  slain  for 
the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they  held." — John. 

41  That  they  should  seek  God,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  him,  though 
he  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us." — Paul. 

"  Other  sheep  have  I  which  are  not  of  this  fold :  them  also  I  must 
bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice  ;  and  they  shall  become  one  flock,  one 
(shepherd. " — Jesus, 


CHAPTEE  XH 

TWO  CENTURIES   OF  SILENCE 
The  Japanese  Shut  In 

SINCERELY  regretting  that  we  cannot  pass  more  fav- 
orable judgments  upon  the  Christianity  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  in  Japan,  let  us  look  into  the  two  cen- 
turies of  silence,  and  see  what  was  the  story  between 
the  paling  of  the  Christian  record  in  1637,  and  the 
glowing  of  the  palimpsest  in  1859,  when  the  new  era 
begins. 

The  policy  of  the  Japanese  rulers,  after  the  sup- 
posed utter  extirpation  of  Christianity,  was  the  double 
one  of  exclusion  and  inclusion.  A  deliberate  attempt, 
long  persisted  in  and  for  centuries  apparently  success- 
ful, was  made  to  insulate  Japan  from  the  shock  of 
change.  The  purpose  was  to  draw  a  whole  nation  and 
people  away  from  the  currents  and  movements  of  hu- 
manity, and  to  stereotype  national  thought  and  cus- 
tom. This  was  carried  out  in  two  ways :  first,  by  ex- 
clusion, and  then  by  inclusion.  All  foreign  influences 
were  shut  off,  or  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  whole 
western  world,  especially  Christendom,  was  put  under 
ban. 

Even  the  apparent  exception  made  in  favor  of  the 
Dutch  was  with  the  motive  of  making  isolation  more 
complete,  and  of  securing  the  perfect  safety  which  that 
23 


354  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

isolation  was  expected  to  bring.  For.  having  built, 
not  indeed  with  brick  and  mortar,  but  by  means  of 
edict  and  law,  both  open  and  secret,  a  great  wall  of 
exclusion  more  powerful  than  that  of  China's,  it  was 
necessary  that  there  should  be  a  port-hole,  for  both 
sally  and  exit,  and  a  slit  for  vigilant  scrutiny  of  any 
attempt  to  force  seclusion  or  violate  the  frontier. 
Hence,  the  Hollanders  were  allowed  to  have  a  small 
place  of  residence  in  front  of  a  large  city  and  at  the 
head  of  a  land-locked  harbor.  There,  the  foreigners 
being  isolated  and  under  strict  guard,  the  government 
could  have,  as  it  were,  a  nerve  which  touched  the  dis- 
tant nations,  and  could  also,  as  with  a  telescope,  sweep 
the  horizon  for  signs  of  danger. 

So,  in  1640,  the  Hollanders  were  ordered  to  evacu- 
ate Hirado,  and  occupy  the  little  "  outer  island " 
called  Deshima,  in  front  of  the  city  of  Nagasaki,  and 
connected  therewith  by  a  bridge.  Any  ships  enter- 
ing this  hill-girdled  harbor,  it  was  believed,  could  be 
easily  managed  by  the  military  resources  possessed  by 
the  government.  Vessels  were  allowed  yearly  to  bring 
the  news  from  abroad  and  exchange  the  products  of 
Japan  for  those  of  Europe.  The  English,  who  had  in 
1617  opened  a  trade  and  conducted  a  factory  for  some 
years,1  were  unable  to  compete  with  the  Dutch,  and 
about  1624,  after  having  lost  in  the  venture  forty  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling,  withdrew  entirely  from  the  Jap- 
anese trade.  The  Dutch  were  thus  left  without  a  rival 
from  Christendom. 

Japan  ceased  her  former  trade  and  communications 
with  the  Philippine  Islands,  Annam,  Siam,  the  Spice 
Islands  and  India,2  and  began  to  restrict  trade  and 
communication  with  Korea  and  China.  The  Koreans, 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  355 

who  were  considered  as  vassals,  or  semi-vassals,  came 
to  Japan  to  present  their  congratulations  on  the  acces- 
sion of  each  new  Shogun ;  and  some  small  trade  was 
done  at  Fusan  under  the  superintendence  of  the  da- 
iniio  of  Tsushima.  Even  this  relation  with  Korea  was 
rather  one  of  watchfulness.  It  sprang  from  the  pride 
of  a  victor  rather  than  from  any  desire  to  maintain  re- 
lations with  the  rest  of  the  world.  As  for  China,  the 
communication  with  her  was  astonishingly  little,  only 
a  few  junks  crossing  yearly  between  Nankin  and  Nag- 
asaki ;  so  that,  with  the  exception  of  one  slit  in  their 
tower  of  observation,  the  Japanese  became  well  isolat- 
ed from  the  human  family. 

This  system  of  exclusion  was  accompanied  by  an 
equally  vigorous  policy  of  inclusiveness.  It  was  de- 
liberately determined  to  keep  the  people  from  going 
abroad,  either  in  their  bodies  or  minds.  All  seaworthy 
ships  were  destroyed.  Under  pain  of  imprisonment 
and  death,  all  natives  were  forbidden  to  go  to  a  foreign 
country,  except  in  the  rare  cases  of  urgent  government 
service.  By  settled  precedents  it  was  soon  made  to  be 
understood  that  those  who  were  blown  out  to  sea  or 
carried  away  in  stress  of  weather,  need  not  come  back ; 
if  they  did,  they  must  return  only  on  Chinese  and 
Korean  vessels,  and  even  then  would  be  grudgingly 
allowed  to  land.  It  was  given  out,  both  at  home  and 
to  the  world,  that  no  shipwrecked  sailors  or  waifs 
would  be  welcomed  when  brought  on  foreign  vessels. 

This  inclusive  policy  directed  against  physical  ex- 
portation, was  still  more  stringently  carried  out  when 
applied  to  imports  affecting  the  minds  of  the  Japanese. 
The  "  government  deliberately  attempted  to  establish 
a  society  impervious  to  foreign  ideas  from  without, 


356  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

and  fostered  within  by  all  sorts  of  artificial  legislation. 
This  isolation  affected  every  department  of  private 
and  public  life.  Methods  of  education  were  cast  in  a 
definite  mould ;  even  matters  of  dress  and  household 
architecture  were  strictly  regulated  by  the  State,  and 
industries  were  restricted  or  forced  into  specified  chan- 
nels, thus  retarding  economic  developments." 3 

Starving  of  the  Mind. 

In  the  science  of  keeping  life  within  stunted  limits 
and  artificial  boundaries,  the  Japanese  genius  excels. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  "  the  Japanese  mind  is  great 
in  little  things  and  little  in  great  things."  To  cut  the 
tap-root  of  a  pine-shoot,  and,  by  regulating  the  allow- 
ance of  earth  and  water,  to  raise  a  pine  -  tree  which 
when  fifty  years  old  shall  be  no  higher  than  a  silver 
dollar,  has  been  the  proud  ambition  of  many  an  artist 
in  botany.  In  like  manner,  the  Tokugawa  Shoguns 
(1604-1868)  determined  to  so  limit  the  supply  of  men- 
tal food,  that  the  mind  of  Japan  should  be  of  those 
correctly  dwarfed  proportions  of  puniness,  so  admired 
by  lovers  of  artificiality  and  unconscious  caricature. 
Philosophy  was  selected  as  a  chief  tool  among  the 
engines  of  oppression,  and  as  the  main  influence  in 
stunting  the  intellect.  All  thought  must  be  orthodox 
according  to  the  standards  of  Confucianism,  as  ex- 
pounded by  Chu  Hi.  Anything  like  originality  in  po- 
etry, learning  or  philosophy  must  be  hooted  down. 
Art  must  follow  Chinese,  Buddhist  and  Japanese  tra- 
ditions. Any  violation  of  this  order  would  mean  ostra- 
cism. All  learning  must  be  in  the  Chinese  and  Japan- 
ese languages — the  former  mis  -  pronounced  and  in 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  357 

sound  bearing  as  much  resemblance  to  Peldngise  speech 
as  "Pennsylvania  Dutch"  does  to  the  language  of  Ber- 
lin. Everything  like  thinking  and  study  must  be  with 
a  view  of  sustaining  and  maintaining  the  established 
order  of  things.  The  tree  of  education,  instead  of 
being  a  lofty  or  wide-spreading  cryptomeria,  must  be 
the  measured  nursling  of  the  teacup.  If  that  trio  of 
emblems,  so  admired  by  the  natives,  the  bamboo,  pine 
and  plum,  could  produce  glossy  leaves,  ever-green 
needles  and  fragrant  blooms  within  a  space  of  four 
cubic  inches,  so  the  law,  the  literature  and  the  art  of 
Japan  must  display  their  normal  limit  of  fresh  fra- 
grance, of  youthful  vigor  and  of  venerable  age,  endur- 
ing for  aye,  within  the  vessel  of  Japanese  inclusion  so 
carefully  limited  by  the  Yedo  authorities. 

Such  a  policy,  reminds  one  of  the  Amherst  agricul- 
tural experiment  in  which  bands  of  iron  were  strapped 
around  a  much-afflicted  squash,  in  order  to  test  vital 
potency.  It  recalls  the  pretty  little  story  of  Picciola, 
in  which  a  tender  plant  must  grow  between  the  inter- 
stices of  the  bricks  in  a  prison  yard.  Besides  the 
potent  bonds  of  the  only  orthodox  Confucian  philos- 
ophy which  was  allowed  and  the  legally  recognized  re- 
ligions, there  was  gradually  formed  a  marvellous  sys- 
tem of  legislation,  that  turned  the  whole  nation  into  a 
secret  society  in  which  spies  and  hypocrites  flourished 
like  fungus  on  a  dead  log.  Besides  the  unwritten  code 
of  private  law,4  that  is,  the  local  and  general  customs 
founded  on  immemorial  usage,  there  was  that  peculiar 
legal  system  framed  by  lyeyasu,  bequeathed  as  a 
legacy  and  for  over  two  hundred  years  practically  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land. 

What  this  law  was,  it  was  exceedingly  difficult,  if  not 


358  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

utterly  impossible,  for  the  aliens  dwelling  in  the  coun- 
try at  Nagasaki  ever  to  find  out.  Keenly  intellectual, 
as  many  of  the  physicians,  superintendents  and  elect 
members  of  the  Dutch  trading  company  were,  they 
seem  never  to  have  been  able  to  get  hold  of  what  has 
been  called  "  The  Testament  of  lyeyasu."5  This  con- 
sisted of  one  hundred  laws  or  regulations,  based  on  a 
home-spun  sort  of  Confucianism,  intended  to  be  ortho- 
doxy "unbroken  for  ages  eternal." 

To  a  man  of  western  mode  of  thinking,  the  most  as- 
tonishing thing  is  that  this  law  was  esoteric.6  The 
people  knew  of  it  only  by  its  irresistible  force,  and  by 
the  constant  pressure  or  the  rare  easing  of  its  iron 
hand.  Those  who  executed  the  law  were  drilled  in  its 
routine  from  childhood,  and  this  routine  became  second 
nature.  Only  a  few  copies  of  the  original  instrument 
were  known,  and  these  were  kept  with  a  secrecy  which 
to  the  people  became  a  sacred  mystery  guarded  by  a 
long  avenue  of  awe. 

Tlie  Dutchmen  at  Deshima. 

The  Dutchmen  who  lived  at  Deshima  for  two  cen- 
turies and  a  half,  and  the  foreigners  who  first  landed  at 
the  treaty  ports  in  1859,  on  inquiring  about  the  methods 
of  the  Japanese  Government,  the  laws  and  their  ad- 
ministration, found  that  everything  was  veiled  behind 
a  vague  embodiment  of  something  which  was  called 
"  the  Law."  What  that  law  was,  by  whom  enacted, 
and  under  what  sanctions  enforced,  no  one  could  tell ; 
though  all  seemed  to  stand  in  awe  of  it  as  something 
of  superhuman  efficiency.  Its  mysteriousness  was 
only  equalled  by  the  abject  submission  which  it  re- 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  359 

ceived.  Foreign  diplomatists,  on  trying  to  deal  with 
the  seat  and  source  of  authority,  instead  of  seeing  the 
real  head  of  power,  played,  as  it  were,  a  game  of  chess 
against  a  mysterious  hand  stretched  out  from  behind 
a  curtain.  Morally,  the  whole  tendency  of  such  a  dual 
system  of  exclusion  and  of  inclusion  was  to  make  a 
nation  of  liars,  foster  confirmed  habits  of  deceit,  and 
create  a  code  of  politeness  vitiated  by  insincerity. 

With  such  repression  of  the  natural  powers  of  hu- 
manity, it  was  but  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of 
things  that  licentiousness  should  run  riot,  that  on  the 
fringes  of  society  there  should  be  the  outcast  and  the 
pariah,  and  that  the  social  waste  of  humanity  by  prosti- 
tution, by  murder,  by  criminal  execution  under  a  code 
that  prescribed  the  death  penalty  for  hundreds  of  of- 
fences, should  be  enormous.  It  is  natural  also  that  in 
such  a  state  of  society  population 7  should  be  kept 
down  within  necessaiy  limits,  not  only  by  famine,  by 
the  restraints  of  feudalism,  by  legalized  murder  in  the 
form  of  vendetta,  by  a  system  of  prostitution  that- 
made  and  still  makes  Japan  infamous,  by  child  mur- 
der, by  lack  of  encouragement  given  to  feeble  or  mal- 
formed children  to  live,  and  by  various  devices  known 
to  those  who  were  ingenious  in  keeping  up  so  artificial 
a  state  of  society. 

That  there  were  many  who  tried  to  break  through 
this  wall,  from  both  the  inside  and  the  outside,  and  to 
force  the  frontiers  of  exclusion  and  inclusion,  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at.  Externally,  there  were  bold  spirits 
from  Christendom  who  burned  to  know  the  secrets  of 
the  mysterious  land.  Some  even  yearned  to  wear  the 
ruby  crown.  The  wonderful  story  of  past  Christian 
triumphs  deeply  stirred  the  heart  of  more  than  one 


360  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

fiery  spirit,  and  so  we  find  various  attempts  made  by 
the  clerical  brethren  of  southern  Europe  to  enter  the 
country.  Bound  by  their  promises,  the  Dutch  captains 
could  not  introduce  these  emissaries  of  a  banned  re- 
ligion within  the  borders ;  yet  there  are  several  not- 
able instances  of  Boman  Catholic  "  religious  "  8  getting 
themselves  left  by  shipmasters  on  the  shores  of  Japan. 
The  lion's  den  of  reality  was  Yedo.  Like  the  lion's 
den  of  fable,  the  footprints  all  led  one  way,  and  where 
these  led  the  bones  of  the  victims  soon  lay. 

Besides  these  men  with  religious  motives,  the  ships 
of  the  West  came  with  offers  of  trade  and  threats  of 
invasion.  These  were  English,  French,  Bussian  and 
American,  and  the  story  of  the  frequent  episodes  has 
been  told  by  Hildreth,  Aston,9  Nitobe,  and  others. 
There  is  also  a  considerable  body  of  native  literature 
which  gives  the  inside  view  of  these  efforts  to  force  the 
seclusion  of  the  hermit  nation,  and  coax  or  compel  the 
Japanese  to  be  more  sociable  and  more  human.  All 
were  in  vain  until  the  peaceful  armada,  under  the  flag 
of  thirty-one  stars,  led  by  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,10 
broke  the  long  seclusion  of  this  Thorn-rose  of  the 
Pacific,  and  the  unarmed  diplomacy  of  Townsend  Har- 
ris,11 brought  Japan  into  the  brotherhood  of  commer- 
cial and  Christian  nations. 

Within  the  isolating  walls  and  the  barred  gates  the 
story  of  the  seekers  after  God  is  a  thrilling  one.  The 
intellect  of  choice  spirits,  beating  like  caged  eagles  the 
bars  of  their  prisons,  yearned  for  more  light  and  life. 
"  Though  an  eagle  be  starving,"  says  the  Japanese  prov- 
erb, "  it  will  not  eat  grain ; "  and  so,  while  the  mass 
of  the  people  and  even  the  erudite,  were  content  with 
ground  food — even  the  chopped  straw  and  husks  of 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  361 

materialistic  Confucianism  and  decayed  Buddhism — 
there  were  noble  souls  who  soared  upward  to  exercise 
their  God-given  powers,  and  to  seek  nourishment  fitted 
for  that  human  spirit  which  goeth  upward  and  not 
downward,  and  which,  ever  in  restless  discontent,  seeks 
the  Infinite. 

Protests  of  Inquiring  Spirits. 

There  is  no  stronger  proof  of  the  true  humanity  and 
the  innate  god-likeness  of  the  Japanese,  of  their  wor- 
thiness to  hold  and  their  inherent  power  to  win  a  high 
place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  than  this  longing 
of  a  few  elect  ones  for  the  best  that  earth  could  give 
and  Heaven  bestow.  We  find  men  in  travail  of  spirit, 
groping  after  God  if  haply  they  might  find  Him,  fol- 
lowing the  ways  of  the  Spirit  along  lines  different,  and 
in  pathways  remote,  from  those  laid  down  by  Confucius 
and  his  materialistic  commentators,  or  by  Buddha  and 
his  parodists  or  caricaturists.  The  story  of  the  phi- 
losophers, who  mutinied  against  the  iron  clamps  and 
governmentally  nourished  system  of  the  Seido  College 
expounders,  is  yet  to  be  fully  told.12  It  behooves  some 
Japanese  scholar  to  tell  it. 

How  earnest  truth-seeking  Japanese  protested  and 
rebelled  against  the  economic  fallacies,  against  the  po- 
litical despotism,  against  the  abominable  usurpations, 
against  the  false  strategies  and  against  the  inherent 
immoralities  of  the  Tokugawa  system,  has  of  late  years 
been  set  forth  with  tantalizing  suggestiveness,  but 
only  in  fragments,  by  the  native  historians.  Heart- 
rending is  the  narrative  of  these  men  who  studied, 
who  taught,  who  examined,  who  sifted  the  mountains 
of  chaff  in  the  native  literature  and  writings,  who  made 


362  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

long  journeys  on  foot  all  over  the  country,  who  fur- 
tively travelled  in  Korea  and  China,  who  boarded 
Dutch  and  Russian  vessels,  who  secretly  read  forbid- 
den books,  who  tried  to  improve  their  country  and 
their  people.  These  men  saw  that  their  country  was 
falling  behind  not  only  the  nations  of  the  West,  but,  as 
it  seemed  to  them,  even  the  nations  of  the  East.  They 
felt  that  radical  changes  were  necessary  in  order  to  re- 
form the  awful  poverty,  disease,  licentiousness,  national 
weakness,  decay  of  bodily  powers,  and  the  creeping  pa- 
ralysis of  the  Samurai  intellect  and  spirit.  How  they 
were  ostracized,  persecuted,  put  under  ban,  hound- 
ed by  the  spies,  thrown  into  prison;  how  they  died 
of  starvation  or  of  disease ;  how  they  were  behead- 
ed, crucified,  or  compelled  to  commit  hara-kiri  ;  how 
their  books  were  purged  by  the  censors,  or  put  under 
ban  or  destroyed,13  and  their  maps,  writings  and  plates 
burned,  has  not  yet  been  told.  It  is  a  story  that,  when 
fully  narrated,  will  make  a  volume  of  extraordinary  in- 
terest. It  is  a  story  which  both  Christian  and  human 
interests  challenge  some  native  author  to  tell. 

During  all  this  time,  but  especially  during  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there  was  one  steady 
goal  to  which  the  aspiring  student  ever  kept  his  faith, 
and  to  which  his  feet  tended.  There  was  one  place  of 
pilgrimage,  toward  which  the  sons  of  the  morning 
moved,  and  which,  despite  the  spy  and  the  informer 
and  the  vigilance  of  governors,  fed  their  spirits,  and 
whence  they  carried  the  sacred  fire,  or  bore  the  seed 
whose  harvest  we  now  see.  That  goal  of  the  pilgrim 
band  was  Nagasaki,  and  the  place  where  the  light 
burned  and  the  sacred  flames  were  kindled  was  Desh- 
ima.  The  men  who  helped  to  make  true  patriots,  dar- 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  363 

ing  thinkers,  inquirers  after  truth,  bringers  in  of  a  bet- 
ter time,  yes,  and  even  Christians  and  preachers  of  the 
good  news  of  God,  were  these  Dutchmen  of  Deshima. 

A  Handful  of  Salt  in  a  Stagnant  Mass. 

The  Nagasaki  Hollanders  were  not  immaculate 
saints,  neither  were  they  sooty  devils.  They  did  not 
profess  to  be  Christian  missionaries.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  were  men  not  devoid  of  conscience  nor  of 
sympathy  with  aspiring  and  struggling  men  in  a  her- 
mit nation,  eager  for  light  and  truth.  The  Dutchman 
during  the  time  of  hermit  Japan,  as  we  see  him  in  the 
literature  of  men  who  were  hostile  in  faith  and  covet- 
ous rivals  in  trade,  is  a  repulsive  figure.  He  seems  to 
be  a  brutal  wretch,  seeking  only  gain,  and  willing  to 
sell  conscience,  humanity  and  his  religion,  for  pelf.  In 
reality,  he  was  an  ordinary  European,  probably  no  bet- 
ter, certainly  no  worse,  than  his  age  or  the  average 
man  of  his  country  or  of  his  continent.  Further, 
among  this  average  dozen  of  exiles  in  the  interest  of 
commerce,  science  or  culture,  there  were  frequently 
honorable  men  far  above  the  average  European,  and 
shining  examples  of  Christianity  and  humanity.  Even 
in  his  submission  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  the 
Dutchman  did  no  more,  no  less,  but  exactly  as  the 
daimios,14  who  like  himself  were  subject  to  the  humili- 
ations imposed  by  the  rulers  in  Yedo. 

It  was  the  Dutch,  who,  for  two  hundred  years  sup- 
plied the  culture  of  Europe  to  Japan,  introduced 
Western  science,  furnished  almost  the  only  intellect- 
ual stimulant,  and  were  the  sole  teachers  of  medicine 
and  science.15  They  trained  up  hundreds  of  Japanese 


364  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

to  be  physicians  who  practised  rational  medicine  and 
surgery.  They  filled  with  needed  courage  the  hearts 
of  men,  who,  secretly  practising  dissection  of  the  bodies 
of  criminals,  demonstrated  the  falsity  of  Chinese  ideas 
of  anatomy.  It  was  Dutch  science  which  exploded 
and  drove  out  of  Japan  that  Chinese  system  of  med- 
icine, by  means  of  which  so  many  millions  have,  dur- 
ing the  long  ages,  been  slowly  tortured  to  death. 

The  Deshima  Dutchman  was  a  kindly  adviser, 
helper,  guide  and  friend,  the  one  means  of  communi- 
cation with  the  world,  a  handful  of  salt  in  the  stag- 
nant mass.  Long  before  the  United  States,  or  Com- 
modore Perry,  the  Hollanders  advised  the  Yedo  gov- 
ernment in  favor  of  international  intercourse.  The 
Dutch  language,  nearest  in  structure  and  vocabulary 
to  the  English,  even  richer  in  the  descriptive  ener- 
gy of  its  terms,  and  saturated  withal  with  Christian 
truth,  was  studied  by  eager  young  men.  These  speak- 
ers of  an  impersonal  language  which  in  psychological 
development  was  scarcely  above  the  grade  of  child- 
hood, were  exercised  in  a  tongue  that  stands  second 
to  none  in  Europe  for  purity,  vigor,  personality  and 
philosophical  power.  The  Japanese  students  of  Dutch 
held  a  golden  key  which  opened  the  treasures  of 
modern  thought  and  of  the  world's  literature.  The 
minds  of  thinking  Japanese  were  thus  made  plastic 
for  the  reception  of  the  ideas  of  Christianity.  Best  of 
all,  though  forbidden  by  their  contracts  to  import 
Bibles  into  Japan,  the  Dutchmen,  by  means  of  works 
of  reference,  pointed  more  than  one  inquiring  spirit  to 
the  information  by  which  the  historic  Christ  became 
known.  The  books  which  they  imported,  the  infor- 
mation which  they  gave,  the  stimulus  which  they  im- 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  365 

parted  were  as  seeds  planted  within  masonry-covered 
earth,  that  were  to  upheave  and  overthrow  the  fabric 
of  exclusion  and  inclusion  reared  by  the  Tokugawa 
Shoguns. 

Time  and  space  fail  us  to  tell  how  eager  spirits  not 
only  groped  after  God,  but  sought  the  living  Christ — 
though  often  this  meant  to  them  imprisonment,  suicide 
enforced  by  the  law,  or  decapitation.  Yet  over  all 
Japan,  long  before  the  broad  pennant  of  Perry  was 
mirrored  on  the  waters  of  Yedo  Bay,  there  were 
here  and  there  masses  of  leavened  opinion,  spots  of 
kindled  light,  and  fields  upon  which  the  tender  green 
sprouts  of  new  ideas  could  be  detected.  To-day,  as 
inquiry  among  the  oldest  of  the  Christian  leaders  and 
scores  of  volumes  of  modern  biography  shows,  the  most 
earnest  and  faithful  among  the  preachers,  teachers  and 
soldiers  in  the  Christian  army,  were  led  into  their 
new  world  of  ideas  through  Dutch  culture.  The  fact 
is  revealed  in  repeated  instances,  that,  through  father, 
grandfather,  uncle,  or  other  relative — some  pilgrim  to 
the  Dutch  at  Nagasaki —came  their  first  knowledge, 
their  initial  promptings,  the  environment  or  atmos- 
phere, which  made  them  all  sensitive  and  ready  to  re- 
ceive the  Christian  truth  when  it  came  in  its  full  form 
from  the  living  missionary  and  the  vital  word  of  God. 
Some  one  has  well  said  that  the  languages  of  modern 
Europe  are  nothing  more  than  Christianity  expressed 
with  differing  pronunciation  and  vocabulary.  To  him 
who  will  receive  it,  the  mastery  of  any  one  of  the  lan- 
guages of  Christendom,  is,  in  a  large  sense,  a  revelation 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 


366  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 


Seekers  after  God. 

Pathetic,  even  to  the  compulsion  of  tears,  is  the 
story  of  these  seekers  after  God.  We,  who  to-day  are 
surrounded  by  every  motive  and  inducement  to  Chris- 
tian living  and  by  every  means  and  appliance  for  the 
practice  of  the  Christian  life,  may  well  consider  for  a 
moment  the  struggle  of  earnest  souls  to  find  out  God. 
Think  of  this  one  who  finds  a  Latin  Bible  cast  up  on 
the  shore  from  some  broken  ship,  and  bearing  it  secret- 
ly in  his  bosom  to  the  Hollander,  gains  light  as  to 
the  meaning  of  its  message.  Think  of  the  nobleman, 
Watanabe  Oboru,16  who,  by  means  of  the  Japanese  in- 
terpreter of  Dutch,  Takano  Choyei,  is  thrilled  with  the 
story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  who  helped  and  healed 
and  spake  as  no  other  man  spake,  teaching  with  an 
authority  above  that  of  the  masters  Confucius  or 
Buddha.  Think  of  the  daimio  of  Mito,17  who,  proud  in 
lineage,  learned  and  scholarly,  and  surrounded  by  a 
host  of  educated  men,  is  yet  unsatisfied  with  what  the 
wise  of  his  own  country  could  give  him,  and  gathers 
around  him  the  relics  unearthed  from  the  old  perse- 
cutions. From  a  picture  of  the  Virgin,  a  fragment  of 
a  litany,  or  it  may  be  a  part  of  a  breviary,  he  tries  to 
make  out  what  Christianity  is. 

Think  of  Yokoi  Heishiro,18  learned  in  Confucius  and 
his  commentators,  who  seeks  better  light,  sends  to 
China  for  a  Chinese  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  in  his  lectures  on  the  Confucian  ethics,  to  the  de- 
light and  yet  to  the  surprise  of  his  hearers  who  hear 
grander  truth  than  they  are  able  to  find  in  text  or  com- 
mentary, really  preaches  Christ,  and  prophesies  that 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  367 

the  time  will  come  when  the  walls  of  isolation  being 
levelled,  the  brightest  intellects  of  Japan  will  welcome 
this  same  Jesus  and  His  doctrine.  Think  of  him  again, 
when  unable  to  purify  the  Augean  stables  of  Yedo's 
moral  corruption,  because  the  time  was  at  hand  for 
other  cleansing  agencies,  he  retires  to  his  home,  con- 
tent awliile  with  his  books  and  flowers.  Again,  see 
him  summoned  to  the  capital,  to  sit  at  Kioto — like 
aged  Franklin  among  the  young  statesmen  of  the  Con- 
stitution in  Philadelphia — with  the  Mikado's  youthful 
advisers  in  the  new  government  of  1868.  Think  of 
him  pleading  for  the  elevation  of  the  pariah  Eta,  ac- 
cursed and  outcast  through  Buddhism,  to  humanity 
and  citizenship.  Then  hear  him  urge  eloquently  the 
right  of  personal  belief,  and  argue  for  toleration  under 
the  law,  of  opinions,  which  the  Japanese  then  stigma- 
tized as  "  evil "  and  devilish,  but  which  we,  and  many 
of  them  now,  call  sound  and  Christian.  Finally,  be- 
hold him  at  night  in  the  public  streets,  assaulted  by 
assassins,  and  given  quick  death  by  their  bullet  and 
blades.  See  his  gray  head  lying  severed  from  his 
body  and  in  its  own  gore,  the  wretched  murderers 
thinking  they  have  stayed  the  advancing  tide  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  at  home  there  dwells  a  little  son  destined 
in  God's  providence  to  become  an  earnest  Christian 
and  one  of  the  brilliant  leaders  of  the  native  Christi- 
anity of  Japan  in  our  day. 

The  Buddhist  Inquisitors. 

During  the  nation's  period  of  Thorn-rose-like  seclu- 
sion, the  three  religions  recognized  by  the  law  were 
Buddhism,  Shinto  and  Confucianism.  Christianity 


368  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

was  the  outlawed  sect.  All  over  the  country,  on  the 
high-roads,  at  the  bridges,  and  in  the  villages,  towns 
and  cities,  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  country  were 
written  on  wooden  tablets  called  kosatsti.  These, 
framed  and  roofed  for  protection  from  the  weather,  but 
easily  before  the  eyes  of  every  man,  woman  and  child, 
and  written  in  a  style  and  language  understood  of  all, 
denounced  the  Christian  religion  as  an  accursed  "  sect," 
and  offered  gold  to  the  spy  and  informer  ; 19  while  once 
a  year  every  Samurai  was  required  to  swear  on  the  true 
faith  of  a  gentleman  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
Christianity.  From  the  seventeenth  century,  the  coun- 
try having  been  divided  into  parishes,  the  inquisition 
was  under  the  charge  of  the  Buddhist  priests  who 
penetrated  into  the  house  and  family  and  guarded  the 
graveyards,  so  that  neither  earth  nor  fire  should  em- 
brace the  carcass  of  a  Christian,  nor  his  dust  or  ashes 
defile  the  ancestral  graveyards.  Twice — in  1686  and 
in  1711 — were  the  rewards  increased  and  the  Buddhist 
bloodhounds  of  Japan's  Inquisition  set  on  fresh  trails. 
On  one  occasion,  at  Osaka,  in  1839,20  a  rebellion  broke 
out  which  was  believed,  though  without  evidence,  to 
have  been  instigated  in  some  way  by  men  with  Chris- 
tian ideas,  and  was  certainly  led  by  Oshio,  the  bitter 
opponent  of  Buddhism,  of  Tokugawa,  and  of  the  preva- 
lent Confucianism.  Possibly,  the  uprising  was  aided 
by  refugees  from  Korea.  Those  implicated  were,  after 
speedy  trial,  crucified  or  beheaded.  In  the  southern 
part  of  the  country  the  ceremony  of  Ebumi  or  tramp- 
ling on  the  cross,21  was  long  performed.  Thousands  of 
people  were  made  to  pass  through  a  wicket,  beneath 
which  and  on  the  ground  lay  a  copper  plate  engraved 
with  the  image  of  the  Christ  and  the  cross,  In  this 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  369 

way  it  was  hoped  to  utterly  eradicate  the  very  memory 
of  Christianity,  which,  to  the  common  people,  had  be- 
come the  synonym  for  sorcery. 

But  besides  the  seeking  after  God  by  earnest  souls 
and  the  protest  of  philosophers,  there  was,  amid  the 
prevailing  immorality  and  the  agnosticism  and  scep- 
ticism bred  by  decayed  Buddhism  and  the  materialis- 
tic philosophy  based  on  Confucius,  some  earnest  strug- 
gles for  the  purification  of  morals  and  the  spiritual 
improvement  of  the  people. 

The  Shingaku  Movement. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  movements  to 
this  end  was  that  of  the  Shingaku  or  Heart  Learning. 
A  class  of  practical  moralists,  to  offset  the  prevailing 
tendency  of  the  age  to  much  speculation  and  because 
Buddhism  did  so  little  for  the  people,  tried  to  make 
the  doctrines  of  Confucius  a  living  force  among  the 
great  mass  of  people.  This  movement,  though  Confu- 
cian in  its  chief  tone  and  color,  was  eclectic  and  in- 
tended to  combine  all  that  was  best  in  the  Chinese 
system  with  what  could  be  utilized  from  Shinto  and 
Buddhism.  With  the  preaching  was  combined  a  good 
deal  of  active  benevolence.  Especially  in  the  time  of 
famine,  was  care  for  humanity  shown.  The  effect  upon 
the  people  was  noticeable,  followers  multiplied  rapidly, 
and  it  is  said  that  even  the  government  in  many  in- 
stances made  them,  the  Shingaku  preachers,  the  dis- 
tributors of  rice  and  alms  for  the  needy.  Some  of  the 
preachers  became  famous  and  counted  among  their 
followers  many  men  of  influence.  The  literary  side 
of  the  movement 22  has  been  brought  to  the  attention 
24 


370  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  English  readers  through  Mr.  Mitford's  translation 
of  three  sermons  from  the  volume  entitled  Shingaku 
Dowa.  Other  discourses  have  been  from  time  to  time 
rendered  into  English,  those  by  Shibata,  entitled  The 
Sermons  of  the  Dove-like  Venerable  Master,  being  es- 
pecially famous. 

This  movement,  interesting  as  it  was,  came  to  an 
end  when  the  country  began  to  be  convulsed  by  the 
approaching  entrance  of  foreigners,  through  the  Perry 
treaty ;  but  it  serves  to  show,  what  we  believe  to  be 
the  truth,  that  the  moral  rottenness  as  well  as  the 
physical  decay  of  the  Japanese  people  reached  their 
acme  just  previous  to  the  apparition  of  the  American 
fleet  in  1853. 

The  story  of  nineteenth  century  Reformed  Chris- 
tianity in  Japan  does  not  begin  with  Perry,  or  with 
Harris,  or  with  the  arrival  of  Christian  missionaries  in 
1859 ;  for  it  has  a  subterranean  and  interior  history, 
as  we  have  hinted ;  while  that  of  the  Roman  form  and 
order  is  a  story  of  unbroken  continuity,  though  the 
life  of  the  tunnel  is  now  that  of  the  sunny  road.  The 
parable  of  the  leaven  is  first  illustrated  and  then  that 
of  the  mustard  -  seed.  Before  Christianity  was  phe- 
nomenal, it  was  potent.  Let  us  now  look  from  the  in- 
terior to  the  outside. 

On  Perry's  flag-ship,  the  Mississippi,  the  Bible  lay 
open,  a  sermon  was  preached,  and  the  hymn  "  Before 
Jehovah's  Awful  Throne  "  was  sung,  waking  the  echoes 
of  the  Japan  hills.  The  Christian  day  of  rest  was  hon- 
ored on  this  American  squadron.  In  the  treaty  signed 
in  1854,  though  it  was  made,  indeed,  with  use  of  the 
name  of  God  and  terms  of  Christian  chronology,  there 
was  nothing  upon  which  to  base,  either  by  right  or  priv- 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  371 

ilege,  the  residence  of  missionaries  in  the  country. 
Townsend  Harris,  the  American  Consul-General,  who 
hoisted  his  flag  and  began  his  hermit  life  at  Shimoda, 
in  September,  1855,  had  as  his  only  companion  a 
Dutch  secretary,  Mr.  Heusken,  who  was  later,  in  Ye- 
do,  to  be  assassinated  by  ronins. 

Without  ship  or  soldier,  overcoming  craft  and  guile, 
and  winning  his  way  by  simple  honesty  and  persever- 
ence,  Mr.  Harris  obtained  audience  *  of  "  the  Tycoon  " 
in  Yedo,  and  later  from  the  Shogun's  daring  minister 
li,  the  signature  to  a  treaty  which  guaranteed  to 
Americans  the  rights  of  residence,  trade  and  com- 
merce. Thus  Americans  were  enabled  to  land  as  cit- 
izens, and  pursue  their  avocation  as  religious  teachers. 
As  the  government  of  the  United  States  of  America 
knows  nothing  of  the  religion  of  American  citizens 
abroad,  it  protects  all  missionaries  who  are  law-abid- 
ing citizens,  without  regard  to  creed.24 

Japan  Once  More  Missionary  Soil. 

The  first  missionaries  were  on  the  ground  as  soon  as 
the  ports  were  open.  Though  surrounded  by  spies  and 
always  in  danger  of  assassination  and  incendiarism, 
they  began  their  work  of  mastering  the  language.  To 
do  this  without  trained  teachers  or  apparatus  of  dic- 
tionary and  grammar,  was  then  an  appalling  task. 
The  medical  missionary  began  healing  the  swarms  of 
human  sufferers,  syphilitic,  consumptive,  and  those 
scourged  by  small -pox,  cholera  and  hereditary  and 
acute  diseases  of  all  sorts.  The  patience,  kindness 
and  persistency  of  these  Christian  men  literally  turned 
the  edge  of  the  sword,  disarmed  the  assassin,  made  the 


372  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

spies'  occupation  useless,  shamed  away  the  suspicious, 
and  conquered  the  nearly  invincible  prejudices  of  the 
government.  Despite  the  awful  under-tow  in  the  im- 
morality of  the  sailor,  the  adventurer  and  the  gain- 
greedy  foreigner,  the  tide  of  Christianity  began  stead- 
ily to  rise.  Notwithstanding  the  outbursts  of  the 
flames  of  persecution,  the  torture  and  imprisonment  of 
Christian  captives  and  exiles,  and  the  slow  worrying 
to  death  of  the  missionary's  native  teachers,  inquirers 
came  and  converts  were  made.  In  1868,  after  revolu- 
tion and  restoration,  the  old  order  changed,  and  du- 
archy  and  feudalism  passed  away.  Quick  to  seize  the 
opportunity,  Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn,  healer  of  bodies  and 
souls  of  men,  presented  a  Bible  to  the  Emperor,  and 
the  gift  was  accepted. 

No  sooner  had  the  new  government  been  established 
in  safety,  and  the  name  of  Yedo,  the  city  of  the  Bay- 
door,  been  changed  into  that  of  Tokio,  the  Eastern 
Capital,  than  an  embassy  *  of  seventy  persons  started 
on  its  course  round  the  world.  At  its  head  were  three 
cabinet  ministers  of  the  new  government  and  the  court 
noble,  Iwakura,  of  immemorial  lineage,  in  whose  veins 
ran  the  blood  of  the  men  called  gods.  Across  the 
Pacific  to  the  United  States  they  went,  having  their 
initial  audience  of  the  President  of  the  Republic  that 
knows  no  state  church,  and  whose  Christianity  had 
compelled  both  the  return  of  the  shipwrecked  Jap- 
anese and  the  freedom  of  the  slave. 

This  embassy  had  been  suggested  and  its  course 
planned  by  a  Christian  missionary,  who  found  that  of 
the  seventy  persons,  one-half  had  been  his  pupils. 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE  373 


The  Imperial  Embassy  Round  the  World. 

The  purpose  of  these  envoys  was,  first  of  all,  to  ask 
of  the  nations  of  Christendom  equal  rights,  to  get  re- 
moved the  odious  extra-territoriality  clause  in  the 
treaties,  to  have  the  right  to  govern  aliens  on  their  soil, 
and  to  regulate  their  own  tariff.26  Secondarily,  its 
members  went  to  study  the  secrets  of  power  and  the 
resources  of  civilization  in  the  West,  to  initiate  the  lib- 
eral education  of  their  women  by  leaving  in  American 
schools  a  little  company  of  maidens,  to  enlarge  the 
system  of  education  for  their  own  country,  and  to  send 
abroad  with  approval  others  of  their  young  men  who, 
for  a  decade  past  had,  in  spite  of  every  ban  and  ob- 
stacle, been  furtively  leaving  the  country  for  study  be- 
yond the  seas. 

In  the  lands  of  Christendom,  the  eyes  of  ambassa- 
dors, ministers,  secretaries  and  students  were  opened. 
They  saw  themselves  as  others  saw  them.  They  com- 
pared their  own  land  and  nation,  mediaeval  in  spirit 
and  backward  in  resources,  and  their  people  untrained 
as  children,  with  the  modern  power,  the  restless  ambi- 
tion, the  stern  purpose,  the  intense  life  of  the  western 
nations,  with  their  mighty  fleets  and  armaments,  their 
inventions  and  machinery,  their  economic  and  social 
theories  and  forces,  their  provision  for  the  poor,  the 
sick,  and  the  aged,  the  peerless  family  life  in  the  Chris- 
tian home.  They  found,  further  yet,  free  churches  di- 
vorced from  politics  and  independent  of  the  state ;  that 
the  leading  force  of  the  world  was  Christianity,  that 
persecution  was  barbarous,  and  that  toleration  was  the 
law  of  the  future,  and  largely  the  condition  of  the  pres- 


374  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ent.  It  took  but  a  few  whispers  over  the  telegraphic 
wire,  and  the  anti-Christian  edicts  disappeared  from 
public  view  Jike  snow-flakes  melting  on  the  river.  The 
right  arm  of  persecution  was  broken. 

The  story  of  the  Book  of  Acts  of  the  modern  apos- 
tles in  Japan  is  told,  first  in  the  teaching  of  inquirers, 
preaching  to  handfuls,  the  gathering  of  tiny  companies, 
the  translation  of  the  Gospel,  and  then  prayer  and 
waiting  for  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  A  study 
of  the  Book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  followed  in 
order  to  find  out  how  the  Christian  Church  began. 
On  the  10th  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  and 
of  the  era  of  Meiji  (Enlightened  Peace)  the  fifth,  1872, 
at  Yokohama,  in  the  little  stone  chapel  built  on  part  of 
Commodore  Perry's  treaty  ground,  was  formed  the  first 
Reformed  or  Protestant  Christian  Church  in  Japan.27 

At  this  point  our  task  is  ended.  We  cannot  even 
glance  at  the  native  Christian  churches  of  the  Bo- 
man,  Reformed,  or  Greek  order,  or  attempt  to  ap- 
praise the  work  of  the  foreign  missionaries.  He  has 
read  these  pages  in  vain,  however,  who  does  not  see 
how  well,  under  Providence,  the  Japanese  have  been 
trained  for  higher  forms  of  faith. 

The  armies  of  Japan  are  upon  Chinese  soil,  while  we 
pen  our  closing  lines.  The  last  chains  of  purely  local 
and  ethnic  dogma  are  being  snapped  asunder.  May 
the  sons  of  Dai  Nippon,  as  they  win  new  horizons  of 
truth,  see  more  clearly  and  welcome  more  loyally  that 
Prince  of  Peace  whose  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world. 

May  the  age  of  political  conquest  end,  and  the  era 
of  the  self-reformation  of  the  Asian  nations,  through 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  be  ushered  in. 


NOTES,    AUTHORITIES,    AND    ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS 


NOTES,    AUTHOEITIES,    AND    ILLUSTEA- 
TIONS 

THE  few  abbreviations  used  in  these  pages  stand  for 
well-known  works :  T.  A.  S.  J.,  for  Transactions  of 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan ;  Kojiki,  for  Supple- 
ment to  Volume  X.,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Introduction,  Trans- 
lation, Notes,  Map,  etc.,  by  Professor  Basil  Hall  Cham- 
berlain; T.  J.,  for  Things  Japanese  (2d  ed.),  by 
Professor  B.  H.  Chamberlain ;  S.  and  H. ,  for  Satow 
and  Hawes's  Hand-book  for  Japan,  now  continued  in 
new  editions  (4th,  1894),  by  Professor  B.  H.  Chamber- 
lain ;  C.  E.  M.,  for  Mayers's  Chinese  Eeader's  Man- 
ual ;  M.  E.,  The  Mikado's  Empire  (7th  ed.)  ;  B.  N., 
for  Mr.  Bunyiu  Nanjio's  A  Short  History  of  the 
Twelve  Japanese  Buddhist  Sects,  Tokio,  1887. 


CHAPTEE  I 

PRIMITIVE   FAITH:   RELIGION  BEFORE   BOOKS 

1  The  late  Professor  Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse, 
LL.  D.,  who  applied  the  principles  of  electro-magnet- 
ism to  telegraphy,  was  the  son  of  the  Eev.  Jedediah 
Morse,  D.D.,  the  celebrated  theologian,  geographer, 
and  gazetteer.  In  memory  of  his  father,  Professor 
Morse  founded  this  lectureship  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York,  on  "  The  Eelation  of  the  Bible 


378  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

to  the  Sciences,"  May  20, 1865,  by  the  gift  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars. 

2  An  American  Missionary  in  Japan,  p.  209,  by  Kev. 
M.  L.  Gordon,  M.D.,  Boston,  1892. 

3  Lucretia  Coffin  Mott. 

4 "  I  remember  once  making  a  calculation  in  Hong 
Kong,  and  making  out  my  baptisms  to  have  amounted 
to  about  six  hundred.  ...  I  believe  with  you  that 
the  study  of  comparative  religion  is  important  for  all 
missionaries.  Still  more  important,  it  seems  to  me,  is 
it  that  missionaries  should  make  themselves  thoroughly 
proficient  in  the  languages  and  literature  of  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  they  are  sent." — Dr.  Legge's  Letter  to  the 
Author,  November  27,  1893. 

5  The  Eeligions  of  China,  p.  240,  by  James  Legge, 
New  York,  1881. 

6  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table,  p.  22,  Boston 
editions  of  1859  and  1879. 

7  One   of  the  many  names  of  Japan  is  that  of  the 
Country  Ruled  by  a  Slender  Sword,  in  allusion  to  the 
clumsy  weapons   employed  by  the  Chinese  and   Ko- 
reans.    See,  for  the  shortening  and  lightening  of  the 
modern  Japanese  sword  (katana)   as   compared   with 
the  long  and  heavy  (ken)  of  the  "Divine"  (kami)  or 
uncivilized  age,  "The  Sword  of   Japan;  Its   History 
and  Traditions,"  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  II.,  p.  58. 

8  The  course  of  lectures  on  The  Eeligions  of  Chinese 
Asia  (which  included  most  of  the  matter  in  this  book), 
given  by  the  author  in  Bangor  Theological  Seminary, 
Bangor,  Me.,  in  April,  1894,  was  upon  the  Bond  foun- 
dation, founded  by  alumni  and  named  after  the  chief 
donor,  Eev.  Elias  Bond,  D.D.,  of  Kohala,  long  an  ac- 
tive missionary  in  Hawaii. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       379 

9  This  is  the  contention  of  Professor  Kume,  late  of 
the   Imperial   University   of   Japan ;    see  chapter  on 
Shinto. 

10  In  illustration,  comical  or  pitiful,  the  common  peo- 
ple in   Satsuma   believe   that  the  spirit   of  the  great 
Saigo  Takamori,  leader  of  the  rebellion  of  1877,  "  has 
taken   up   its   abode  in  the  planet  Mars,"  while   the 
spirits  of  his  followers  entered  into  a  new  race  of  frogs 
that  attack  man  and  fight  until  killed. — Mounsey's  The 
Satsuma  Rebellion,  p.  217.     So,  also,  the  Heike-gani, 
or  crabs  at  Shimonoseki,  represent  the  transmigration 
of  the  souls  of  the  Heike  clan,  nearly  exterminated  in 
1184  A.D.,  while  the  "  Hojo  bugs  "  are  the  avatars  of 
the  execrated  rulers  of  Kamakura  (1219-1333   A.D.). 
— Japan  in  History,  Folk-lore,  and  Art,  Boston,  1892, 
pp.  115, 133. 

11  The  Future  of  Religion  in  Japan.     A  paper  read 
at  the  Parliament  of  Religions  by  Nobuta  Kishimoto. 

12 « r£ijje  Ainos,  though  they  deify  all  the  chief  ob- 
jects of  nature,  such  as  the  sun,  the  sea,  fire,  wild 
beasts,  etc.,  often  talk  of  a  Creator,  Kotan  Jcara  Jcamui, 
literally  the  God  who  made  the  World.  At  the  fact 
of  creation  they  stop  short.  .  .  .  One  gathers 
that  the  creative  act  was  performed  not  directly,  but 
through  intermediaries,  who  were  apparently  animals." 
— Chamberlain's  Aino  Studies,  p.  12.  See  also  on  the 
Aino  term  "  Kamui,"  by  Professor  B.  H.  Chamberlain 
and  Rev.  J.  Batchelor,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVI. 

18  See  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan,  by  Isabella  Bird 
(Bishop),  Vol.  II. ;  The  Ainu  of  Japan,  by  Rev.  John 
Batchelor;  B.  Douglas  Howard's  Life  With  Trans- 
Siberian  Savages ;  Ripley  Hitchcock's  Report,  Smith- 
sonian Institute,  Washington.  Professor  B.  H.  Cham- 


380  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

berlain's  invaluable  "Aino  Studies,"  Tokio,  1887, 
makes  scholarly  comparison  of  the  Japanese  and  Aino 
language,  mythology,  and  geographical  nomenclature. 

14  M.  E.,  The  Mythical  Zoology  of  Japan,  pp.  477- 
488.     C.  E.  M.,  passim. 

15  See  the  valuable  article  entitled  Demoniacal  Pos- 
session, T.  J.,  p.  106,  and  the  author's  Japanese  Fox 
Myths,  Lippincott's  Magazine,  1873. 

16  See  the  Aino  animal  stories  and  evidences  of  beast 
worship  in  Chamberlain's  Aino  Studies.     For  this  ele- 
ment in  Japanese  life,  see  the  Kojiki,  and  the  author's 
Japanese  Fairy  World. 

17  The  proprietor  of  a  paper-mill  in  Massachusetts, 
who  had  bought  a  cargo  of  rags,  consisting  mostly  of 
farmers'  cast  off  clothes,  brought  to  the  author  a  bun- 
dle of  scraps  of  paper  which  he  had  found  in  this 
cheap   blue  -  dyed   cotton   wearing   apparel.     Besides 
money  accounts  and  personal  matters,  there  were  nu- 
merous temple  amulets  and  priests'  certificates.     See 
also  B.  H.  Chamberlain's  Notes  on  Some  Minor  Japan- 
ese Religious  Practices,  Journal  of  the  Anthropological 
Institute,  May,  1893. 

18  M.  E.,  p.  440. 

19  See  the  Lecture  on  Buddhism  in  its  Doctrinal  De- 
velopment.— The  Nichiren  Sect. 

20  The  phallus  was  formerly  a  common  emblem  in 
all  parts  of  Japan,  Hondo,  Kiushiu,  Shikoku,  and  the 
other  islands.     Bayard  Taylor  noticed  it  in  the  Eiu 
Kiu  (Loo  Choo)  Islands ;  Perry's  Expedition  to  Japan, 
p.  196 ;   Bayard  Taylor's  Expedition  in  Lew  Chew ; 
M.  E.,  p.  33,  note;   Eein's  Japan,  p.  432;   Diary  of 
Eichard  Cocks,  Yol.  I.,  p.  283.    The  native  guide-books 
.and  gazetteers  do  not  allude  to  the  subject. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS      381 

Although  the  author  of  this  volume  has  collected 
considerable  data  from  personal  observations  and  the 
testimony  of  personal  friends  concerning  the  vanishing 
nature-worship  of  the  Japanese,  he  has,  in  the  text, 
scarcely  more  than  glanced  at  the  subject.  In  a  work 
of  this  sort,  intended  both  for  the  general  reader  as 
well  as  for  the  scientific  student  of  religion,  it  has  been 
thought  best  to  be  content  with  a  few  simple  references 
to  what  was  once  widely  prevalent  in  the  Japanese 
archipelago. 

Probably  the  most  thorough  study  of  Japanese  phal- 
licism  yet  made  by  any  foreign  scholar  is  that  of  Ed- 
mund Buckley,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  of  the  Chicago  University, 
Lecturer  on  Shinto,  the  Ethnic  Faith  of  Japan,  and  on 
the  Science  of  Eeligion.  Dr.  Buckley  spent  six  years 
in  central  and  southwestern  Japan,  most  of  the  time 
as  instructor  in  the  Doshisha  University,  Kioto.  He 
will  publish  the  results  of  his  personal  observations 
and  studies  in  a  monograph  on  phallicism,  which  will 
be  on  sale  at  Chicago  University,  in  which  the  Buck- 
ley collection  illustrating  Shinto-worship  has  been  de- 
posited. 

21  Mr.  Takahashi  Goro,  in  his  Shinto  Shin-ron,  or 
New  Discussion  of  Shinto,  accepts  the  derivation  of  the 
word  kami  from  Jcabi,  mould,  mildew,  which,  on  its  ap- 
pearance, excites  wonder.  For  Hirata's  discussion,  see 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  III.,  Appendix,  p.  48.  In  a  striking 
paper  on  the  Early  Gods  of  Japan,  in  a  recent  number 
of  the  Philosophical  Magazine,  published  in  Tokio,  a 
Japanese  writer,  Mr.  Kenjiro  Hirade,  states  also  that 
the  term  kami  does  not  necessarily  denote  a  spiritual 
being,  but  is  only  a  relative  term  meaning  above  or 
high,  but  this  respect  toward  something  high  or  above 


382  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

has  created  many  imaginary  deities  as  well  as  those 
having  a  human  history.  See  also  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol. 
XXII.,  Part  L,  p.  55,  note. 

22  tt  There  remains  something  of  the  Shinto  heart 
after  twelve  hundred  years  of  foreign  creeds  and  dress. 
The  worship  of  the  marvellous  continues.  .  .  .  Ex- 
aggerated force  is  most  impressive.  ...  So  the 
ancient  gods,  heroes,  and  wonders  are  worshipped 
still.  The  simple  countryfolk  clap  their  hands,  bow 
their  heads,  mumble  their  prayers,  and  offer  the  frac- 
tion of  a  cent  to  the  first  European-built  house  they 
see." — Philosophy  in  Japan,  Past  and  Present,  by  Dr. 
George  Wm.  Knox. 

23 M.  E.,p.  474.  Honda  the  Samurai,  pp.  256- 
267. 

^Kojiki,  pp.  127,  136,  213,  217. 

25  See  S.   and  H.,  pp.  39,  76. 

"  The  appearance  of  anything  unusual  at  a  particular 
spot  is  held  to  be  a  sure  sign  of  the  presence  of  divin- 
ity. Near  the  spot  where  I  live  in  Ko-ishi-kawa,  Tokio, 
is  a  small  Miya,  built  at  the  foot  of  a  very  old  tree, 
that  stands  isolated  on  the  edge  of  a  rice-field.  The 
spot  looks  somewhat  insignificant,  but  upon  inquiring 
why  a  shrine  has  been  placed  there,  I  was  told  that  a 
white  snake  had  been  found  at  the  foot  of  the  old 
tree."  .  .  . 

"  As  it  is,  the  religion  of  the  Japanese  consists  in 
the  belief  that  the  productive  ethereal  spirit,  being  ex- 
panded through  the  whole  universe,  every  part  is  in 
some. degree  impregnated  with  it ;  and  therefore,  every 
part  is  in  some  measure  the  seat  of  the  Deity." 
— Legendre's  Progressive  Japan,  p.  258. 

26  De  Verflauwing    der  Grenzen,   by  Dr.   Abraham 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS      383 

Kuyper,  Amsterdam,  1892 ;  translated  by  Rev.  T. 
Hendrik  de  Tries,  in  the  Methodist  Review,  New 
York,  July-Sept.,  1893. 


CHAPTER    H 

SHINTO:    MYTHS  AND  RITUAL 

1  The  scholar  who  has  made  profound  researches  in 
all  departments  of  Japanese  learning,  but  especially  in 
the  literature  of  Shinto,  is  Mr.  Ernest  Satow,  now  the 
British  Minister  at  Tangier.     He  received  the  degree 
of  B.A.   from  the  London  University.     After  several 
years'  study  and  experience  in  China,  Mr.  Satow  came 
to  Japan  in  1861  as  student-interpreter  to  the  British 
Legation,   receiving  his  first   drill  under  Rev.  S.  R. 
Brown,  D.D.,  author  of  A  Grammar  of  Colloquial  Jap- 
anese.    To  ceaseless  industry,  this  scholar,  to  whom 
the  world  is  so  much  indebted  for  knowledge  of  Japan, 
has   added   philosophic   insight.     Besides  unearthing 
documents  whose  existence  was  unsuspected,  he  has 
cleared  the   way  for   investigators   and   comparative 
students  by  practically  removing  the  barriers  reared 
by   archaic  speech  and  writing.     His   papers    in  the 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  on  The  Shinto  Shrines  at  Ise,  the  Revival 
of  Pure  Shinto,  and  Ancient  Japanese  Rituals,  together 
with  his  Hand-book  for  Japan,  form  the  best  collection 
of  materials  for  the  study  of  the  original  and  later 
forms  of  Shinto. 

2  The  scholar  who  above  all  others  has,  with  rare 
acumen  united  to  laborious  and  prolonged  toil,  illumi- 
nated the  subject  of  Japan's  chronology  and  early  his- 


384  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tory  is  Mr.  W.  G.  Aston  of  the  British  Civil  Service.  He 
studied  at  the  Queen's  University,  Ireland,  receiving 
the  degree  of  M.A.  He  was  appointed  student-inter- 
preter in  Japan,  August  6,  1864.  He  is  the  author  of 
a  Grammar  of  the  Written  Japanese  Language,  and  has 
been  a  student  of  the  comparative  history  and  speech 
and  writing  of  China,  Korea,  and  Japan,  during  the 
past  thirty  years.  See  his  valuable  papers  in  the 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  and  the  learned  societies  in  Great  Britain. 
In  his  paper  on  Early  Japanese  History,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  XVI.,  pp.  39-75,  he  recapitulates  the  result  of  his 
researches,  in  which  he  is,  in  the  main,  supported  by 
critical  native  scholars,  and  by  the  late  William  Bram- 
sen,  in  his  Japanese  Chronological  Tables,  Tokio, 
1880.  He  considers  A.D.  461  as  the  first  trustworthy 
date  in  the  Japanese  annals.  We  quote  from  his  paper, 
Early  Japanese  History,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVI.,  p.  73. 

1.  The  earliest  date  of  the  accepted  Japanese  Chro- 
nology, the  accuracy  of  which  is  confirmed  by  external 
evidence,  is  A.D.  461. 

2.  Japanese  History,  properly  so  called,  can  hardly 
be  said  to  exist  previous  to  A.D.  500.     (A  cursory  ex- 
amination leads  me  to  think  that  the  annals  of  the  sixth 
century  must  also  be  received  with  caution.) 

3.  Korean  History  and  Chronology  are  more  trust- 
worthy than  those  of  Japan  during  the  period  previous 
to  that  date. 

4.  While  there  was  an  Empress   of  Japan  in  the 
third  century  A.D.,  the  statement  that  she  conquered 
Korea  is  highly  improbable. 

5.  Chinese  learning  was  introduced  into  Japan  from 
Korea  120  years  later  than  the  date  given  in  Japanese 
History. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS      385 

6.  The  main  fact  of  Japan  having  a  predominant  in- 
fluence in  some  parts  of  Korea  during  the  fifth  century 
is  confirmed  by  the  Korean  and  Chinese  chronicles, 
which,  however,  show  that  the  Japanese  accounts  are 
very  inaccurate  in  matters  of  detail. 

3  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain,  who  has  done  the  world  of 
learning  such  signal  service  by  his  works  on  the  Jap- 
anese language,  and  especially  by  his  translation,  with 
critical  introduction  and  commentary,  of  the  Kojiki,  is 
an  English  gentleman,  born  at  Southsea,  Hampshire, 
England,  on  the  18th  day  of  October,  1830.  His 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  well-known  traveller  and 
author,  Captain  Basil  Hall,  B.N.,  and  his  father  an 
Admiral  in  the  British  Navy.  He  was  educated  for 
Oxford,  but  instead  of  entering,  for  reasons  of  health, 
he  spent  a  number  of  years  in  western  and  southern 
Europe,  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  various  languages 
and  literatures.  His  coming  to  Japan  (in  May,  1873) 
was  rather  the  result  of  an  accident — a  long  sea  voy- 
age and  a  trial  of  the  Japanese  climate  having  been 
recommended.  The  country  and  the  field  of  study 
suited  the  invalid  well.  After  teaching  for  a  time  in 
the  Naval  College  the  Japanese  honored  themselves 
and  this  scholar  by  making  him,  in  April,  1886,  Pro- 
fessor of  Philology  at  the  Imperial  University.  His 
works,  The  Classical  Poetry  of  the  Japanese,  his 
various  grammars  and  hand-books  for  the  acquisition 
of  the  language,  his  Hand-book  for  Japan,  his  Aino 
Studies,  Things  Japanese,  papers  in  the  T.  A.  S.  J. 
and  his  translation  of  the  Kojiki  are  all  of  a  high  order 
of  value.  They  are  marked  by  candor,  fairness,  in- 
sight, and  a  mastery  of  difficult  themes  that  makes  his. 
readers  his  constant  debtors. 


386  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

4  "  If  the  term  '  Altaic  '  be  held  to  include  Korean  and 
Japanese,  then  Japanese  assumes  prime  importance  as 
being  by  far  the   oldest  living  representative  of  that 
great   linguistic   group,   its   literature   antedating   by 
many  centuries  the  most  ancient  productions  of  the 
Manchus,    Mongols,    Turks,    Hungarians,   or  Finns." 
— Chamberlain,  Simplified  Grammar,  Introd.,  p.  vi. 

5  Corea,  the  Hermit  Nation,  pp.  13-14  ;  Mr.  Pom  K. 
Soh's  paper  on  Education  in  Korea  ;  Report  of  U.  S. 
Commissioner  of  Education,  1890-91. 

6T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVI.,  p.  74;  Bramsen's  Chrono- 
logical Tables,  Introd.,  p.  34 ;  T.  J.,  p.  32. 

7  The  Middle  Kingdom,  Vol.  I.,  p.  531. 

8 "The  frog  in  the  well  knows  not  the  great  ocean." 
This  proverb,  so  freely  quoted  throughout  Chinese 
Asia,  and  in  recent  years  so  much  applied  to  them- 
selves by  the  Japanese,  is  of  Hindu  origin  and  is 
found  in  the  Sanskrit. 

9  This  is  shown  with  literary  skill  and  power  in  a 
modern  popular  work,  the  title  of  which,  Dai  Nippon 
Kai-biyaku  Yurai-iki,  which,  very  freely  indeed,  may 
be  translated  Instances  of  Divine  Interposition  in  Be- 
half of  Great  Japan.     A  copy  of  this  work  was  pre- 
sented to  the  writer  by  the  late  daimio  of  Echizen,  and 
was  read  with  interest  as  containing  the  common  peo- 
ple's ideas  about  their  country  and  history.     It  was 
published  in  Yedo  in  1856,  while  Japan  was  still  ex- 
cited over  the  visits  of  the  American  and  European 
fleets.     On  the  basis  of  the  information  furnished  in 
this  work  General  Le  Gendre  wrote  his  influential  book, 
Progressive  Japan,  in  which  a  number  of  quotations 
from  the  Kai-biyaku  may  be  read. 

10  In  the  Kojiki,  pp.  101-104,  we  have  the  poetical 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS      387 

account  of  the  abdication  of  the  lord  of  Idzumo  in 
favor  of  the  Yamato  conqueror,  on  condition  that  the 
latter  should  build  a  temple  and  have  him  honored 
among  the  gods.  One  of  the  rituals  contains  the  con- 
gratulatory address  of  the  chieftains  of  Idzumo,  on 
their  surrender  to  "  the  first  Mikado,  Jimmu  Tenno." 
See  also  T.  J.,  p.  206. 

11  "The  praying  for  Harvest,  or  Toshigoi  no  Mat- 
suri,  was  celebrated  on  the  4th  day  of  the  2d  month  of 
each  year,  at  the  capital  in  the  Jin-Gi-Kuan  or  office 
for  the  "Worship  of  the  Shinto  gods,  and  in  the  prov- 
inces by  the  chiefs  of  the  local  administrations.  At 
the  Jin-Gi-Kuan  there  were  assembled  the  ministers 
of  state,  the  functionaries  of  that  office,  the  priests  and 
priestesses  of  573  temples,  containing  737  shrines, 
which  were  kept  up  at  the  expense  of  the  Mikado's 
treasury,  while  the  governors  of  the  provinces  super- 
intended in  the  districts  under  their  administration 
the  performance  of  rites  in  honor  of  2,395  other 
shrines.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  state  the  exact  num- 
ber of  deities  to  whom  these  3,132  shrines  were  dedi- 
cated. A  glance  over  the  list  in  the  9th  and  10th 
books  of  the  Yengishiki  shows  at  once  that  there  were 
many  gods  who  were  worshipped  in  more  than  half-a- 
dozen  different  localities  at  the  same  time ;  but  exact 
calculation  is  impossible,  because  in  many  cases  only 
the  names  of  the  temples  are  given,  and  we  are  left 
quite  in  the  dark  as  to  the  individuality  of  the  gods 
to  whom  they  were  sacred.  Besides  these  3,132 
shrines,  which  are  distinguished  as  Shikidai,  that  is 
contained  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Yengishiki,  there 
were  a  large  number  of  enumerated  shrines  in  temples 
scattered  all  over  the  country,  in  every  village  or  ham- 


388  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

let,  of  which  it  was  impossible  to  take  any  account, 
just  as  at  the  present  day  there  are  temples  of  Hachi- 
inan,  Kompira,  Tenjin  sama,  San-no  sama-  and  Sen- 
gen  sama,  as  they  are  popularly  called,  wherever 
twenty  or  thirty  houses  are  collected  together.  The 
shrines  are  classed  as  great  and  small,  the  respective 
numbers  being  492  and  2,640,  the  distinction  being 
twofold,  firstly  in  the  proportionately  larger  quantity 
of  offerings  made  at  the  great  shrines,  and  secondly 
that  the  offerings  in  the  one  case  were  arranged  upon 
tables  or  altars,  while  in  the  other  they  were  placed 
on  mats  spread  upon  the  earth.  In  the  Yengishiki  the 
amounts  and  nature  of  the  offerings  are  stated  with 
great  minuteness,  but  it  will  be  sufficient  if  the  kinds 
of  articles  offered  are  alone  mentioned  here.  It  will 
be  seen,  by  comparison  with  the  text  of  the  norito, 
that  they  had  varied  somewhat  since  the  date  when 
the  ritual  was  composed.  The  offerings  to  a  greater 
shrine  consisted  of  coarse  woven  silk  (asliiginu),  thin 
silk  of  five  different  colors,  a  kind  of  stuff  called  sM- 
dori  or  shidzu,  which  is  supposed  by  some  to  have 
been  a  striped  silk,  cloth  of  broussonetia  bark  or 
hemp,  and  a  small  quantity  of  the  raw  materials  of 
which  the  cloth  was  made,  models  of  swords,  a  pair  of 
tables  or  altars  (called  yo-kura-oki  and  ya-kura-oki\  a 
shield  or  mantlet,  a  spear-head,  a  bow,  a  quiver,  a 
pair  of  stag's  horns,  a  hoe,  a  few  measures  of  sake  or 
rice-beer,  some  haliotis  and  bonito,  two  measures  of 
Jcitali  (supposed  to  be  salt  roe),  various  kinds  of  edi- 
ble seaweed,  a  measure  of  salt,  a  sake  jar,  and  a  few 
feet  of  matting  for  packing.  To  each  of  the  temples 
of  Watarai  in  Ise  was  presented  in  addition  a  horse  ; 
to  the  temple  of  the  Harvest  god  Mitoshi  no  kami,  a 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS      389 

white  horse,  cock,  and  pig,  and  a  horse  to  each  of  nine- 
teen others. 

"  During  the  fortnight  which  preceded  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  service,  two  smiths  and  their  journeymen, 
and  two  carpenters,  together  with  eight  inbe  [or  he- 
reditary priests]  were  employed  in  preparing  the  appa- 
ratus and  getting  ready  the  offerings.  It  was  usual 
to  employ  for  the  Praying  for  Harvest  members  of 
this  tribe  who  held  office  in  the  Jin-Gi-Kuan,  but  if 
the  number  could  not  be  made  up  in  that  office,  it  was 
supplied  from  other  departments  of  state.  To  the 
tribe  of  quiver-makers  was  intrusted  the  special  duty 
of  weaving  the  quivers  of  wistaria  tendrils.  The  ser- 
vice began  at  twenty  minutes  to  seven  in  the  morning, 
by  our  reckoning  of  time.  After  the  governor  of  the 
province  of  Yamashiro  had  ascertained  that  every- 
thing was  in  readiness,  the  officials  of  the  Jin-Gi-Kuan 
arranged  the  offerings  on  the  tables  and  below  them, 
according  to  the  rank  of  the  shrines  for  which  they 
were  intended.  The  large  court  of  the  Jin-Gi-Kuan 
where  the  service  was  held,  called  the  Sai-in,  measured 
230  feet  by  370.  At  one  end  were  the  offices  and  on 
the  west  side  were  the  shrines  of  the  eight  Protective 
Deities  in  a  row,  surrounded  by  a  fence,  to  the  interior 
of  which  three  sacred  archways  (torii)  gave  access. 
In  the  centre  of  the  court  a  temporary  shed  was 
erected  for  the  occasion,  in  which  the  tables  or  altars 
were  placed.  The  final  preparations  being  now  com- 
plete, the  ministers  of  state,  the  virgin  priestesses  and 
priests  of  the  temples  to  which  offerings  were  sent  by 
the  Mikado,  entered  in  succession,  and  took  the  places 
severally  assigned  to  them.  The  horses  which  formed 
a  part  of  the  offerings  were  next  brought  in  from  the 


390  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Mikado's  stable,  and  all  the  congregation  drew  near, 
while  the  reader  recited  or  read  the  norito.  This 
reader  was  a  member  of  the  priestly  family  or  tribe  of 
Nakatomi,  who  traced  their  descent  back  to  Ameno- 
koyane,  one  of  the  principal  advisers  attached  to  the 
sun-goddess's  grandchild  when  he  first  descended  on 
earth.  It  is  a  remarkable  evidence  of  the  persistence 
of  certain  ideas,  that  up  to  the  year  1868  the  nominal 
prime-minister  of  the  Mikado,  after  he  came  of  age, 
and  the  regent  during  his  minority,  if  he  had  succeeded 
young  to  the  throne,  always  belonged  to  this  tribe, 
which  changed  its  name  from  Nakatomi  to  Fujiwara  in 
the  seventh  century,  and  was  subsequently  split  up  into 
the  Five  Setsuke  or  governing  families.  At  the  end 
of  each  section  the  priests  all  responded  '  O  ! '  which 
was  no  doubt  the  equivalent  of  '  Yes '  in  use  in  those 
days.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished,  the  Nakatomi  re- 
tired, and  the  offerings  were  distributed  to  the  priests 
for  conveyance  and  presentation  to  the  gods  to  whose 
service  they  were  attached.  But  a  special  messenger 
was  despatched  with  the  offerings  destined  to  the  tem- 
ples at  Watarai.  This  formality  having  been  com- 
pleted, the  President  of  the  Jin-Gi-Kuan  gave  the  sig- 
nal for  breaking  up  the  assembly." — Ancient  Japanese 
Eituals,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  VIL,  pp.  104-107. 

12  S.  andH.,  p.  461 

13  Consult  Chamberlain's  literal  translations  of  the 
name  in  the  Kojiki,  and  p.  Ixv.  of  his  Introduction. 

14  The  parallel  between  the  Hebrew  and  Japanese 
accounts  of  light  and  darkness,  day  and  night,  before 
the  sun,  has  been  noticed  by  several  writers.     See  the 
comments  of  Hirata,  a  modern  Shinto  expounder.— 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  III.,  Appendix,  p.  72. 

15  Westminster  Review,  July,  1878,  p.  19. 


NOTES,  AVT1101UTIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       391 

CHAPTEB  HI 

"THE  ROJIKI"  AND  ITS  TEACHINGS 

1  Kojiki,  pp.  9-13  ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  in.,  Appendix, 
p.  20. 

2  M.  E.,  p.  43 ;  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia, 
Art.  Shinto ;  in  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol. TIL,  Appendix,  is  to  be 
found  Mr.  Satow's  digest  of  the  commentaries  of  the 
modern  Shinto  revivalists ;  in  Mr.  Chamberlain's  trans- 
lation of  the  Kojiki,  the  text  with  abundant  notes.    See 
also  Mr.  Twan-Lin's  Account  of  Japan  up  to  A.D.  1200, 
by  E.  H.  Parker.     T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XXIL,  Part  I. 

3  "  The    various    abstractions  which  figure    at    the 
commencement  of  the  *  Kecords '  (Kojiki)  and  of  the 
*  Chronicles '  (Nihongi)  were  probably  later  growths, 
and    perhaps   indeed   were    inventions   of    individual 
priests."— Kojiki,  Introd.,  p.  Ixv.     See  also  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  XXII.,  Part  I,  p.  56.    "  Thus,  not  only  is  this  part 
of  the  Kojiki  pure  twaddle,  but  it  is  not  even  consist- 
ent twaddle." 

4  Kojiki,  Section  IX. 

5  Dr.    Joseph    Edkins,    D.D.,    author    of    Chinese 
Buddhism,  who  believes  that  the    primeval  religious 
history  of  men  is  recoverable,  says  in  Early  Spread 
of  Eeligious  Ideas,  Especially  in  the  Far  East,  p.  29, 
"  In   Japan   Amaterasu,     ...     in  fact,  as   I   sup- 
pose, Mithras  written  in  Japanese,  though  the  Japan- 
ese themselves  are  not  aware  of  this  etymology."     Com- 
pare Kojiki,  Introduction,  pp.  Ixv.-lxvii. 

6  Kojiki,  p.  xlii. 


392  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

7  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  III.,  Appendix,  p.  67. 

8  E.  Satow,  Kevival  of  Pure  Shinto,  pp.  67-68. 

9  This  curious  agreement  between  the  Japanese  and 
other  ethnic  traditions   in   locating   "  Paradise,"   the 
origin  of  the  human  family  and  of  civilization,  at  the 
North  Pole,  has  not  escaped  the  attention  of  Dr.  W. 
F.  Warren,  President  of  Boston  University,  who  makes 
extended  reference  to  it  in  his  interesting  and  sugges. 
tive  book,  Paradise  Found  :  The  Cradle  of  the  Human 
Race  at  the  North  Pole ;  A  Study  of  the  Prehistoric 
World,  Boston,  1885. 

10  The  pure  Japanese  numerals  equal  in  number  the 
fingers  ;  with  the  borrowed  Chinese  terms  vast  amounts 
can  be  expressed. 

11  This  custom  was  later  revived,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  pp.  28, 31. 
Mitford's  Tales  of  Old  Japan,  Vol.  II.,  p.  57 ;  M.  E.,  pp. 
156,  238. 

12  See  in  Japanese  Fairy   World,    "  How  the  Sun- 
Goddess  was  enticed  out  of  her  Cave."     For  the  nar- 
rative see  Kojiki,  pp.  54-59 ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  II.,  128- 
133. 

13  See   Chomei    and  Wordsworth,  A  Literary  Par- 
allel, by  J.  M.  Dixon,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XX.,  pp.  193- 
205  ;   Anthologie    Japonaise,    by    Leon    de    Rosny ; 
Chamberlain's    Classical    Poetry    of    the    Japanese ; 
Suyematsu's  Genji  Monogatari,  London,  1882. 

14  Oftentimes  in  studying  the  ancient  rituals,  those 
who   imagine   that  the  word  Kami  should  be  in  all 
cases   translated  gods,  will  be  surprised  to  see  what 
puerility,  bathos,  or  grandiloquence,  comes  out  of  an 
attempt  to  express  a  very  simple,  it  may  be  humiliating, 
experience. 

15  Mythology  and  Religious  Worship  of  the  Japan- 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       393 

ese,  Westminster  Keview,  July,  1878  ;  Ancient  Japan- 
ese Kituals,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vols.  VIL,  IX. ;  Esoteric  Shinto, 
by  Percival  Lowell,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XXI. 

16  Compare  Sections  IX.  and  XXIII.  of  the  Kojiki. 

17  This  indeed  seems  to  be  the  substance  of  the  mod- 
ern official  expositions  of  Shinto  and  the  recent  Re- 
scripts of  the  Emperor,  as  well  as  of  much  popular 
literature,   including   the  manifestoes   or   confessions 
found  on  the  persons  of  men  who  have  "  consecrated  " 
themselves  as  "  the  instruments  of  Heaven  for  punish- 
ing the  wicked,"  i.e.,  assassinating  obnoxious  states- 
men.    See  The  Ancient  Eeligion,  M.  E.,  pp.  96-100  ; 
The  Japan  Mail,  passim. 

18  Revival  of  Pure  Shinto,  pp.  25-38. 

19  Japanese  Homes,  by  E.  S.  Morse,  pp.  228-233, 
note,  p.  332. 

20  Chamberlain's  Aino  Studies,  p.  12. 

21  Geological  Survey  of  Japan,  by  Benj.  S.  Lyman, 
1878-9. 

22  The   Shell   Mounds  of   Omori ;    and   The   Tokio 
Times,  Jan.  18,  1879,  by  Edward  S.  Morse  ;  Japanese 
Fairy  World,  pp.  178,  191,  196. 

23  Kojiki,  pp.  60-63. 

24  S.  and  H.,  pp.  58,  337,  etc. 

25  This  study  in  comparative  religion  by  a  Japanese, 
which  cost  the  learned  author  his  professorship  in  the 
Tei-Koku  Dai  Gaku  or  Imperial  University  (lit.  Theo- 
cratic Country  Great  Learning  Place),  has  had  a  ten- 
dency to  chill  the  ardor  of  native  investigators.     His 
paper  was  first  published  in  the  Historical  Magazine 
of  the  University,  but  the  wide  publicity  and  popular 
excitement  followed  only  after  republication,  with  com- 
ments by  Mr.  Taguchi,  in  the  Keizai  Zasshi  (Econo- 


394  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

mical  Journal).  The  Shintoists  denounced  Professor 
Kumi  for  "making  our  ancient  religion  a  branch  of 
Christianity,"  and  demanded  and  secured  his  "  retire- 
ment "  by  the  Government.  See  Japan  Mail,  April  2, 
1892,  p.  440. 

=*T.  A.  S.  J,  YoLXXL,  p.  282. 

^Kojiki,  p.  xxviii. 

28  For  the  use  of  salt  in  modern  "  Esoteric  "  Shinto, 
both  in  purification  and  for  employment  as  of  sala- 
mandrine,  see  T.  A.  S.  J.,  pp.  125,  128. 

29  In  the  official  census  of  1893,  nine  Shinto  sects  are 
named,  each  of  which  has  its  own  Kwancho  or  Presid- 
ing Head,  recognized  by  the  government.     The  sec- 
tarian peculiarities  of  Shinto  have  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  study  by  very  few  foreigners.   Mr.  Satow  names 
the  following : 

The  Yuwiitsu  sect  was  founded  by  Yoshida  Kane- 
tpmo.  His  signature  appears  as  the  end  of  a  ten- vol- 
ume edition,  issued  A.D.  1503,  of  the  liturgies  ex- 
tracted from  the  Yengishiki  or  Book  of  Ceremonial 
Law,  first  published  in  the  era  of  Yengi  (or  En-gi), 
A.D.  901-922.  He  is  supposed  to  be  the  one  who 
added  the  kana,  or  common  vernacular  script  letters, 
to  the  Chinese  text  and  thus  made  the  norito  accessible 
to  the  people.  The  little  pocket  prayer-books,  folded 
in  an  accordeon-like  manner,  are  very  cheap  and  popu- 
lar. The  sect  is  regarded  as  heretical  by  strict  Shin- 
toists, as  the  system  Yuwiitsu  consists  "mainly  of  a 
Buddhist  superstructure  on  a  Shinto  foundation." 
Yoshida  applied  the  tenets  of  the  Shingon  or  True 
"Word  sect  of  Buddhists  to  the  understanding  and  prac- 
tice of  the  ancient  god-way. 

The  Suiga  sect  teaches  a  system  which  is  a  combina- 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       395 

tion  of  Yuwiitsu  and  of  the  modern  philosophical 
form  of  Confucianism  as  elaborated  by  Chu  Hi,  and 
known  in  Japan  as  the  Tei-shu  philosophy.  The 
founder  was  Yamazaki  Ansai,  who  was  born  in  1618 
and  died  in  1682.  By  combining  the  forms  of  the 
Yoshida  sect,  which  is  based  on  the  Buddhism  of  the 
Shingon  sect,  with  the  materialistic  philosophy  of 
Chu  Hi,  he  adapted  the  old  god-way  to  what  he 
deemed  modern  needs. 

In  the  Deguchi  sect,  the  ancient  belief  is  explained 
by  the  Chinese  Book  of  Changes  (or  Divination). 
Deguchi  Nobuyoshi,  the  founder,  was  god-warden  or 
kannushi  of  the  Geiku  or  Outer  Palace  Temple  at 
Ise.  He  promulgated  his  views  about  the  year  1660, 
basing  them  upon  the  book  called  Eki  by  the  Japanese 
and  Yi-king  by  the  Chinese.  This  Yi-king,  which 
Professor  Terrien  de  Lacouperie  declares  is  only  a 
very  ancient  book  of  pronunciation  of  comparative 
Accadian  and  Chinese  Syllabaries,  has  been  the  cause 
of  incredible  waste  of  labor,  time,  and  brains  in  China 
— enough  to  have  diked  the  Yellow  River  or  drained 
the  swamps  of  the  Empire.  It  is  the  chief  basis  of 
Chinese  superstition,  and  the  greatest  literary  barrier  to 
the  advance  of  civilization.  It  has  also  made  much 
mischief  in  Japan.  Deguchi  explained  the  myths  of 
the  age  of  the  gods  by  divination  or  e'ki,  based  on  the 
Chinese  books.  As  late  as  1893  there  was  published 
in  Tokio  a  work  in  Japanese,  with  good  translation 
into  English,  on  Scientific  Morality,  or  the  practical 
guidance  of  life  by  means  of  divination — The  Taka- 
shima  Ekidan  (or  Monograph  on  the  Eki  of  Mr.  Taka- 
shima),  by  S.  Sugiura. 

The   Jikko  sect,  according  to  its  representative  at 


396  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  World's  Parliament  of  Eeligions  at  Chicago,  is 
"  the  practical."  It  lays  stress  less  upon  speculation 
and  ritual,  and  more  upon  the  realization  of  the  best 
teachings  of  Shinto.  It  was  founded  by  Hasegawa 
Kakugio,  who  was  born  at  Nagasaki  in  1541.  Living 
in  a  cave  in  Fuji-yama,  "he  received  inspiration 
through  the  miraculous  power  of  the  mountain."  It 
believes  in  one  absolute  Deity,  often  mentioned  in  the 
Kojiki,  which,  self-originated,  took  the  embodiment 
of  two  deities,  one  with  the  male  nature  and  the  other 
female,  though  these  two  deities  are  nothing  but  forms 
of  the  one  substance  and  unite  again  in  the  absolute 
deity.  These  gave  birth  to  the  Japanese  Archipelago, 
the  sun  and  moon,  the  mountains  and  streams,  the 
divine  ancestors,  etc.  According  to  the  teachings  of 
this  sect,  the  peerless  mountain,  Fuji,  ought  to  be  rev- 
erenced as  the  sacred  abode  of  the  divine  lord,  and  as 
"  the  brains  of  the  whole  globe."  The  believer  must 
make  Fuji  the  example  and  emblem  of  his  thought  and 
action.  He  must  be  plain  and  simple,  as  the  form  of 
the  mountain,  making  his  body  and  mind  pure  and 
serene,  as  Fuji  itself.  The  present  world  with  all  its 
practical  works  must  be  respected  more  than  the 
future  world.  We  must  pray  for  the  long  life  of  the 
country,  lead  a  life  of  temperance  and  diligence,  co- 
operating with  one  another  in  doing  good. 

Statistics  of  Shintoism. 

From  the  official  Kesume  Statistique  de  1'Empire 
du  Japon,  1894.  In  1891  there  were  nine  administra- 
tive heads  of  sects;  75,877  preachers,  priests,  and 
shrine-keepers,  with  1,158  male  and  228  female  stu> 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,  ILLUSTRATIONS      397 

dents.  There  were  163  national  temples  of  superior 
rank  and  136,652  shrines  or  temples  in  cities  and  pre- 
fectures ;  a  total  of  193,153,  served  by  14,700  persons 
of  the  grade  of  priests.  Most  of  the  expenses,  apart 
from  endowments  and  local  contributions,  are  included 
in  the  first  item  of  the  annual  Treasury  Budget,  "  Civil 
List,  Appanage  and  Shinto  Temples." 


CHAPTEE  IV 

THE  CHINESE  ETHICAL  SYSTEM  IN  JAPAN 

1  "  He  was  fond  of  saying  that  Princeton  had  never 
originated  a  new  idea ;  but  this  meant  no  more  than 
that  Princeton  was  the  advocate  of  historical  Calvinism 
in  opposition  to  the  modified  and  provincial  Calvinism 
of  a  later  day." — Francis  L.  Patton,  in  Schaff-Herzog 
Encyclopaedia,  Article  on  Charles  Hodge. 

a  We  use  Dr.  James  Legge's  spelling,  by  whom  these 
classics  have  been  translated  into  English.  See  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East,  edited  by  Max  Miiller. 

3  The  Canon  or  Four  Classics  has  a  somewhat  va- 
ried literary  history  of  transmission,  collection,  and 
redaction,  as  well  as  of  exposition,  and  of  criticism, 
both  "  lower  "  and  "  higher."  As  arranged  under  the 
Han  Dynasty  (B.C.  206-A.D.  23)  it  consisted  of — I. 
The  Commentary  of  Tso  Kiuming  (a  disciple  who  ex- 
pounded Confucius's  book,  The  Annals  of  State  of  Lu)  ; 
II.  The  Commentary  of  Kuh-liang  upon  the  same  work 
of  Confucius  ;  III.  The  Old  Text  of  the  Book  of  His- 
tory ;  IY.  The  Odes,  collected  by  Mao  Chang,  to  whom 
is  ascribed  the  text  of  the  Odes  as  handed  down  to 


398  TEE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

the  present  day.  The  generally  accepted  arrangement 
is  that  made  by  the  mediaeval  schoolmen  of  the  Sung 
Dynasty  (A.D.  960-1341),  Cheng  Teh  Sio  and  Chu  Hi, 
in  the  twelfth  century :  I.  The  Great  Learning  ;  II.  The 
Doctrine  of  the  Mean ;  III.  Conversations  of  Confu- 
cius ;  IY.  The  Sayings  of  Mencius. — C.  R.  M.,  pp.  306- 
309. 

4  See  criticisms  of  Confucius  as  an  author,  in  Legge's 
Religions  of  China,  pp.  144,  145. 

5  Religions  of  China,  by  James  Legge,  p.  140. 

6  See  Article   China,  by  the  author,  Cyclopaedia  of 
Political  Science,  Chicago,  1881. 

7  This    subject   is   critically    discussed  by  Messrs. 
Satow,  Chamberlain,  and  others  in  their  writings  on 
Shinto  and  Japanese  history.     On  Japanese  chronol- 
ogy, see  Japanese   Chronological   Tables,  by  William 
Bramsen,  Tokio,  1880,  and  Dr.  David  Murray's  Japan 
(p.  95),  in  the  series  Story  of  the  Nations,  New  York. 

8  The  absurd  claim  made  by  some  Shintoists  that 
the  Japanese  possessed   an  original  native  alphabet 
called  the  Shingi  (god-letters)  before  the  entrance  of 
the  Chinese  or  Buddhist  learning  in  Japan,  is  refuted 
by  Aston,  Japanese  Grammar,  p.  1 ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  III., 
Appendix,  p.  77.    Mr.  Satow  shows  "  their  unmistakable 
identity  with  the  Corean  alphabet." 

9  For  the   life,   work,   and  tombs   of    the    Chinese 
scholars  who  fled  to  Japan  on  the  fall  of  the  Ming 
Dynasty,  see  M.  E.,  p.  298  ;  and  Professor  E.  W.  Clem- 
ent's paper  on  The  Tokugawa  Princes  of  Mi  to,  T.  A. 
S.  J.,  Yol.  XYIIL,  and  his  letters  in  The  Japan  Mail. 

10  tt  -yye  have  consecrated  ourselves  as  the  instruments 
of  Heaven  for  punishing  the  wicked  man," — from  the 
document  submitted  to  the  Yedo  authorities,  by  the 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       399 

assassins  of  li  Kamon  no  Kami,  in  Yedo,  March  23, 
1861,  and  signed  by  seventeen  men  of  the  band.  For 
numerous  other  instances,  see  the  voluminous  litera- 
ture of  the  Forty- seven  Ronins,  and  the  Meiji  political 
literature  (1868-1893),  political  and  historical  docu- 
ments, assassins'  confessions,  etc.,  contained  in  that 
thesarus  of  valuable  documents,  The  Japan  Mail ; 
Kinse  Shiriaku,  or  Brief  History  of  Japan,  1853- 
1869,  Yokohama,  1873,  and  Nihon  Guaishi,  translated 
by  Mr.  Ernest  Satow ;  Adams's  History  of  Japan ; 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  145  ;  Life  and  Letters  of  Yokoi, 
Heishiro ;  Life  of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  London,  1893, 
etc.,  for  proof  of  this  assertion. 

11  For  proof  of  this,  as  to  vocabulary,  see  Professor 
B.  H.  Chamberlain's  Grammars  and  other  philological 
works;  Mr.   J.  H.    Gubbins's  Dictionary  of  Chinese- 
Japanese  Words,  with  Introduction,  three  vols.,  Tokio, 
1892  ;  and  for  change  in  structure,  Rev.  C.  Munzinger, 
on  The  Psychology  of  the  Japanese  Language  in  the 
Transactions   of   the   German  Asiatic   Society  of  Ja- 
pan.    See  also  Mental  Characteristics  of  the  Japanese, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  17-37. 

12  See  The  Ghost  of  Sakura,  in  Mitford's  Tales  of 
Old  Japan,  Vol.  II,  p.  17. 

13  M.  E,  277-280.     See  an  able  analysis  of  Japanese 
feudal  society,   by  M.  F.  Dickins,  Life  of  Sir  Harry 
Parkes,  pp.  8-13  ;  M.  E,  pp.  277-283. 

14  This  subject  is  discussed  in  Professor  Chamber- 
lain's works  ;  Mr.  Percival  Lowell's  The  Soul  of  the  Far 
East ;  Dr.  M.  L.  Gordon's  An  American  Missionary  in 
Japan ;  Dr.  J.  H.  De  Forest's  The  Influence  of  Panthe- 
ism, in  The  Japan  Evangelist,  1894 

15  T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XVH,  p.  96. 


400  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

16  The  Forty-Seven  Ronins,  Tales  of  Old  Japan,  Vol. 
I. ;  Chiuslringura,  by  F.  V.  Dickens  ;  The  Loyal  Ro- 
nins, by  Edward  Greey  ;  Chiushingura,  translated  by 
Enouye. 

17  See  Dr.  J.  H.  De  Forest's  article  in  the  Andover 
Review,  May,  June,  1893,  p.    309.      For  details  and 
instances,    see    the   Japanese    histories,    novels,   and 
dramas  ;  M.  E. ;  Rein's  Japan ;  S.  and  H.  ;  T.  A.  S.  J., 
etc.     Life  of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  p.  11  et  passim. 

18  M.    E.,  pp.    180-192,   419.      For  the   origin   and 
meaning  of  hara-kiri,  see   T.  J.,  pp.  199-201  ;  Mit- 
ford's  Tales  of  Old  Japan,  Vol.  I.,  Appendix ;  Adams's 
History  of  Japan,  story  of  Shimadzu  Seiji. 

19  M.  E.,  p.  133. 

20  For  light  upon  the  status  of  the  Japanese  family, 
see  F.  O.  Adams's  History  of  Japan,  Vol.  II.,  p.  334 ; 
Kinse  Shiriaku,  p.  137 ;  Naomi  Tamura,  The  Japan- 
ese Bride,  New  York,  1893  ;  E.  H.  House,  Yone  Santo, 
A  Child  of  Japan,  Chicago,  1888 ;  Japanese  Girls  and 
Women,  by  Miss  A.  M.  Bacon,  Boston,  1891 ;  T.  J.,  Ar- 
ticle Woman,  and  in  Index,  Adoption,  Children,  etc. ; 
M.  E.,  1st  ed.,  p.  585  ;  Marriage  in  Japan,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  XIII.,  p.  114 ;  and  papers  in  the  German  Asiatic 
Society  of  Japan. 

21  See  Mr.  F.  W.  Eastlake's  papers  in  the  Popular 
Science  Monthly. 

58  See  Life  of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  Vol.  II,  pp.  181-182. 
"It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  this  reform  [of  the 
Yoshiwara  system],  like  many  others  in  Japan,  never 
got  beyond  paper,  for  Mr.  Norman  in  his  recent  book, 
The  Real  Japan  [Chap.  XII.],  describes  a  scarcely 
modified  system  in  full  vigor."  See  also  Japanese 
Girls  and  Women,  pp.  289-292. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       401 

23  See  Pung  Kwang  Yu's  paper,  read  at  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Religions  in  Chicago,  and   The   Chinese  as 
Painted    by    Themselves,    by    Colonel    Tcheng-Ki- 
Tong,  New  York  and  London,  1885.     Dr.  W.  A.  P. 
Martin's  scholarly  book,  The  Chinese,  New  York,  1881, 
in  the  chapter  Remarks  on  the  Ethical  Philosophy  of 
the  Chinese,  gives  in  English  and  Chinese  a  Chart  of 
Chinese  Ethics  in  which  the  whole  scheme  of  philos- 
ophy, ethics,  and  self-culture  is  set  forth. 

24  See  an  exceedingly  clear,  able,  and  accurate  arti- 
cle  on  The  Ethics   of   Confucius   as  Seen  in  Japan, 
by  the  veteran  scholar,  Rev.  J.  H.  De  Forest,  The  An- 
dover  Review,  May,  June,  1893.     He  is  the  authority 
for  the  statements  concerning  non-attendance  (in  Old 
Japan)  of  the  husband  at  the  wife's,  and  older  brother 
at  younger  brother's  funeral. 

25  A  Japanese  translation  of  Mrs.  Caudle's   Curtain 
Lectures,  in  a  Tokio  morning  newspaper  "met  with 
instant  and  universal  approval,"  showing  that  Doug- 
las Jerrold's  world-famous  character  has  her  counter- 
part in  Japan,  where,  as  a  Japanese  proverb  declares, 
"  the  tongue  three  inches  long  can  kill  a  man  six  feet 
high."      Sir  Edwin  Arnold  and  Mr.  E.  H.  House,  in 
various  writings,  have  idealized  the  admirable  traits  of 
the  Japanese  woman.     See  also  Mr.  Lafcadio  Hearn's 
Glimpses  of   Unfamiliar  Japan,    Boston,    1894 ;    and 
papers  (The  Eternal  Feminine,  etc.),  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly. 

26  Summary  of  the  Japanese  Penal  Codes,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  V.,  Part  II. ;  The  Penal  Code  of  Japan,  and  The 
Code  of  Criminal  Procedure  of  Japan,  Yokohama. 

27  See  T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  114;  the  Chapter  on 
Marriage  and  Divorce,  in  Japanese  Girls  and  Women, 


402  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

pp.  57-84.  The  following  figures  are  from  the  Re- 
sume Statistique  de  1'Empire  clu  Japon,  published  an- 
nually by  the  Imperial  Government  : 

MARRIAGES.  DIVORCES. 


1887....  334,  149  8.55  110,859  2.84 

1888  ..330,246  8.34  109,175  2.76 

1889  ...340,445  8.50  107,458  2.68 

1890  ...325,141  8.04  197,088  2.70 
1891....  352,651  8.00  112,411  2.76 
1892....  348,489  8.48  113,498  2.76 

28  This  was  strikingly  brought  out  in  the  hundreds  of 
English  compositions  (written  by  students  of  the  Im- 
perial University,  1872-74,  describing  the  home  or  in- 
dividual life  of  students),  examined  and  read  by  the 
author. 

29  Homo   sum  :    humani   nil   a  me   alienum   puto  — 
Heauton  Tomoroumenos,  Act  —  ,  Scene  1,  line  25,  where 
Chremes  inquires  about  his  neighbor's  affairs.      For 
the  golden  rule  of  Jesus  and  the  silver  rule  of  Con- 
fucius, see  Doolittle's  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese. 

30  "  What  you  do  not  want  done  to  3^ourselves,  do 
not  do  to  others."     Legge,  The  Religions  of  China,  p. 
137  ;  Doolittle's  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese  ;  The  Tes- 
tament of  lyeyasu,  Cap.   LXXI.,  translated  by  J.  C. 
Lowder,  Yokohama,  1874. 

31  Die  politische  Bedeutung  der  amerikanischer  Ex- 
pedition  nach  Japan,    1852,    by  Tetsutaro   Yoshida, 
Heidelberg,  1893  ;  The  United  States  and  Japan   (p. 
39),  by  Inazo  Nitobe,  Baltimore,  1891  ;  Matthew  Cal- 
braith  Perry,  Chap.  XXVIII.;  T.  J.,  Article  Perry; 
Life  and  Letters  of  S.  Wells  Williams,  New  York,  1889, 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS      403 

32  See   Life   of  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  pp.  363-, 
364. 

33  Lee's  Jerusalem  Illustrated,  p.  88. 


CHAPTEE  V 

CONFUCIANISM  IN  ITS   PHILOSOPHICAL   FOEM 

1  See  On  the  Early  History  of  Printing  in  Japan,  by 
E.  M.  Satow,  T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  X.,  pp.  1-83,  252-259 ; 
The  Jesuit  Mission  Press  in  Japan,  by  E.  M.  Satow 
(privately  printed,  1888),  and  Review  of  this  mono- 
graph by  Professor  B.  H.  Chamberlain,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Yol.  XVII.,  pp.  91-100. 

2  The   Tokugawa  Princes   of  Mito,   by   Ernest  W. 
Clement,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVIII.,  pp.  1-24,  and  Let- 
ters in  The  Japan  Mail,  1889. 

3  Effect  of  Buddhism  on  the  Philosophy  of  the  Sung 
Dynasty,  p.  318,  Chinese  Buddhism,  by  Eev.  J.  Ed- 
kins,  Boston,  1880. 

4  C.   E.  M.,  p.  200 ;  The  Middle   Kingdom,  by   S. 
Wells  Williams,  Vol.  II.,  p.  174. 

5  C.  E.  M.,  p.  34.     He  was  the  boy-hero,  who  smashed 
with  a  stone  the  precious  water-vase  in  order  to  save 
from  drowning  a  playmate  who  had  tumbled  in,  so 
often  represented  in  Chinese  popular  art. 

6C.  E.  M.,  pp.  25-26 ;  The  Middle  Kingdom,  Vol.  I., 
pp.  113,  540,  652-654,  677. 

7  This  decade  in  Chinese  history  was  astonishingly 
like  that  of  the  United  States  from  1884  to  1894,  in 
which  the  economical  theories  advocated  in  certain 


404:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

journals,  in  the  books  Progress  and  Poverty,  Look- 
ing Backward,  and  by  the  Populists,  have  been  so 
widely  read  and  discussed,  and  the  attempts  made  to 
put  them  into  practice.  The  Chinese  theorist  of  the 
eleventh  century,  Wang  Ngan-shih  was  "a  poet  and 
author  of  rare  genius." — C.  K.  M.,  p.  244. 

8  John  xxi.  25. 

9  This  is  the  opinion  of  no  less  capable  judges  than 
Dr.   George   Wm.    Knox   and    Professor    Basil  Hall 
Chamberlain. 

10  The  United  States  and  Japan,  pp.  25-27  ;  Life  of 
Takano  Choyei  by  Kato  Sakaye,  Tokio,  1888. 

11  Note   on  Japanese  Schools  of  Philosophy,  by  T. 
Haga,  and  papers  by  Dr.  G.  W.  Knox,  Dr.  T.  Inoue, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XX.,  Part  I. 

12  A  religion,  surely,  with  men  like  Yokoi  Heishiro. 

13  See  pp.  110-113. 

14  Kinno— loyalty  to  the  Emperor  ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol. 
XX,  p.  147. 

is  «  Originally  recognizing  the  existence  of  a  Supreme 
personal  Deity,  it  [Confucianism]  has  degenerated  into 
a  pantheistic  medley,  and  renders  worship  to  an  im- 
personal anima  mundi  under  the  leading  forms  of 
visible  nature." — Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin's  The  Chinese, 
p.  108. 

16  Ki,  Ki,  and  Ten,  Dr.  George  Wm.  Knox,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  XX.,  pp.  155-177. 

17  T.  J.,  p.  94. 

18  T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  156. 

19  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  p.   373 ;  Japanese  Life 
of  Yoshida   Shoin,  by  Tokutomi,    Tokio,  1894;  Life 
of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  Vol.  II.,  p.  83. 

30 "  The  Chinese   accept  Confucius  in  every  detail, 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       405 

both  as  taught  by  Confucius  and  by  his  disciples.  .  .  . 
The  Japanese  recognize  both  religions  [Buddhism  and 
Confucianism]  equally,  but  Confucianism  in  Japan  has 
a  direct  bearing  upon  everything  relating  to  human 
affairs,  especially  the  extreme  loyalty  of  the  people  to 
the  emperor,  while  the  Koreans  consider  it  more  use- 
ful in  social  matters  than  in  any  other  department  of 
life,  and  hardly  consider  its  precepts  in  their  business 
and  mercantile  relations." 

"  Although  Confucianism  is  counted  a  religion,  it  is 
really  a  system  of  sociology.  .  .  .  Confucius  was  a 
moralist  and  statesman,  and  his  disciples  are  moralists 
and  economists." — Education  in  Korea,  by  Mr.  Pom 
K  Soh,  of  the  Korean  Embassy  to  the  United  States ; 
Report  of  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1890-91, 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  345-346. 

21  In  Bakin,  who  is  the  great  teacher  of  the  Japanese 
by  means  of  fiction,  this  is  the  idea  always  inculcated. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BUDDHISM  OF   NORTHERN  ASIA 

1  See  his  Introduction  to  the  Saddharma  Pundarika, 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  and  his  Buddhisrnus. 

2  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion  as   Illustrated  by 
Buddhism  ;  Non-Christian  Religious  Systems — Buddh- 
ism. 

3  The   sketch   of   Indian  thought  here  following  is 
digested  from  material  obtained  from  various  works  OQ 
Buddhism  and  from  the  Histories  of  India,    See  the 


406  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

excellent  monograph  of  Koinesh  Cliuuder  Dutt,  in 
Epochs  of  Indian  History,  London  and  New  York, 
1893  ;  and  Outlines  of  The  Mahayana,  as  Taught  by 
Buddha  ("for  circulation  among  the  members  of  the 
Parliament  of  Eeligions,"  and  distributed  in  Chicago), 
Tokio,  1893. 

4  Dyaus-Pitar,  afterward  £eu9  irarrfp.     See  Century 
Dictionary,  Jupiter. 

5  Yoga  is  the  root  form  of  our  word  yoke,  which  at 
once  suggests  the  union  of  two  in  one.     See  Yoga,  in 
The  Century  Dictionary. 

6  Dutt's  History  of  India. 

7  The  differences  between  the  simple  primitive  nar- 
rative of  Gautama's  experiences  in  attaining  Buddha- 
hood,  and  the  richly  embroidered  story  current  in  later 
ages,  may  be  seen  by  reading,  first,  Atkinson's  Prince  Si- 
dartha,  the  Japanese  Buddha,  and  then  Arnold's  Light 
of  Asia.     See  also  S.  and  H.,  Introduction,  pp.  70-84, 
etc.  Atkinson's  book  is  refreshing  reading  after  the  ex- 
purgation and  sublimation  of  the  same  theme  in  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold's  Light  of  Asia. 

8  Eomesh  Chunder  Dutt's  Ancient  India,  p.  100. 

9  Origin  and  Growth  of  Keligion  by  T.  Rhys  Davids, 
p.  28. 

10  Job  i.  6,  Hebrew. 

11  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion,  p.  29. 

12 "  Buddhism  so  far  from  tracing  '  all  things '  to 
'  matter '  as  their  original,  denies  the  reality  of  matter, 
but  it  nowwhere  denies  the  reality  of  existence." — The 
Phoenix,  Vol.  I.,  p.  156. 

13  See  A  Year  among  the  Persians,  by  Edward  G. 
Browne,  London,  1893. 

14  Dutt's  History  of  India,  pp.  153-156.     See  also 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       407 

Mozoomdar's  The  Spirit  of  God,  p.  305.  "Buddhism, 
though  for  a  long  time  it  supplanted  the  parent  sys- 
tem, was  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  of  .universal 
peace,  which  Hinduism  had  made  ;  and  when,  in  its 
turn,  it  was  outgrown  by  the  instincts  of  the  Aryans, 
it  had  to  leave  India  indeed  forever,  but  it  contrib- 
uted quite  as  much  to  Indian  religion  as  it  had  ever 
borrowed." 

15  Korean  Kepository,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  101,  131, 153  ;  Sie- 
bold's  Nippon,  Archiv ;  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  1890-91,  Vol.  I.,  p.  346  ;  Pallet's 
Histoire  de  1'Eglise  de  Coree,  Vol.  I.,  Introd.,  p.  cxlv. ; 
Corea,  the  Hermit  Nation,  p.  331. 

16  See  Brian  H.  Hodgson's  The  Literature  and  Hig- 
tory  of  the  Buddhists,  in  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society 
of  Bengal,  which  is  epitomized  in  The  Phoenix,  Vol. 
I. ;   Beal's   Buddhism   in  China,  Chap.   II.  ;  T.  Rhys 
Davids's  Buddhism,  etc.    To  Brian  Houghton  Hodgson, 
(of  whose  death  at  the  ripe  age  of  ninety-three  years  we 
read  in  Luzac's  Oriental  List)  more  than  to  any  one 
writer,  are  we  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  Northern 
or  Mahayana  Buddhism. 

17  See  the  very  accurate,  clear,  and  full  definitions  and 
explanations  in  The  Century  Dictionary. 

18  This  subject   is   fully   discussed  by  Professor   T. 
Rhys  Davids  in  his  compact  Manual  of  Buddhism. 

19  See  Century  Dictionary. 

20  Jap.  Mon-ju.     One  of  the  most  famous  images  of 
this  Bodhisattva  is  at  Zenko-ji,  Nagano.     See  Kern's 
Saddharma  Pundarika,  p.  8,  and  the  many  references 
to   Manjusri   in   the   Index.     That  Manjusri  was  the 
legendary  civilizer  of  Nepaul  seems  probable  from  the 
following  extract  from  Brian  Hodgson  : 


408  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

"The  Swayambhu  Purana  relates  in  substance  as  fol- 
lows :  That  formerly  the  valley  of  Nepaul  was  of  cir- 
cular form,  and  full  of  very  deep  water,  and  that  the 
mountains  confining  it  were  clothed  with  the  densest 
forests,  giving  shelter  to  numberless  birds  and  beasts. 
Countless  waterfowl  rejoiced  in  the  waters.  .  .  . 

".  .  .  Yipasyi,  having  thrice  circumambulated 
the  lake,  seated  himself  in  the  N.  W.  (Vayubona)  side 
of  it,  and,  having  repeated  several  mantras  over  the 
root  of  a  lotos,  he  threw  it  into  the  water,  exclaiming, 
'  What  time  this  root  shall  produce  a  flower,  then, 
from  out  of  the  flower,  Swayambhu,  the  Lord  of  Agnish- 
tha  Bhuvana,  shall  be  revealed  in  the  form  of  flame  ; 
and  then  shall  the  lake  become  a  cultivated  and  popu- 
lous country.'  Having  repeated  these  words,  Vipasyi 
departed.  Long  after  the  date  of  this  prophecy,  it  was 
fulfilled  according  to  the  letter.  .  .  . 

".  .  .  When  the  lake  was  dessicated  (by  the 
sword  of  Manjusri  says  the  myth — probably  earth- 
quake) Karkotaka  had  a  fine  tank  built  for  him  to 
dwell  in ;  and  there  he  is  still  worshipped,  also  in  the 
cave-temple  appendant  to  the  great  Buddhist  shrine 
of  Swayambhu  Nath. 

"...  The  Bodhisatwa  above  alluded  to  is  Mauju 
Sri,  whose  native  place  is  very  far  off,  towards  the  north, 
and  is  called  Pancha  Sirsha  Parvata  (which  is  situated 
in  Maha  China  Des).  After  the  coming  of  Viswabhu 
Buddha  to  Naga  Yasa,  Mariju  Sri,  meditating  upon 
what  was  passing  in  the  world,  discovered  by  means  of 
his  divine  science  that  Swayambhu-jyotirupa,  that  is, 
the  self-existent,  in  the  form  of  flame,  was  revealed  out 
of  a  lotos  in  the  lake  of  Naga  Yasa.  Again,  he  reflected 
within  himself  :  '  Let  me  behold  that  sacred  spot,  and 


NOTES,  AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       409 

my  name  will  long  be  celebrated  in  the  world ; '  and 
on  the  instant,  collecting  together  his  disciples,  com- 
prising a  multitude  of  the  peasantry  of  the  land,  and  a 
Raja  named  Dharmakar,  he  assumed  the  form  of  Yis- 
wakarma,  and  with  his  two  Devis  (wives)  and  the  per- 
sons above-mentioned,  set  out  upon  the  long  journey 
from  Sirsha  Parvata  to  Naga  Yasa.  There  having  ar- 
rived, and  having  made  puja  to  the  self -existent,  he 
began  to  circumambulate  the  lake,  beseeching  all  the 
while  the  aid  of  Swayambhu  in  prayer.  In  the  second 
circuit,  when  he  had  reached  the  central  barrier  moun- 
tain to  the  south,  he  became  satisfied  that  that  was  the 
best  place  whereat  to  draw  off  the  waters  of  the  lake. 
Immediately  he  struck  the  mountain  with  his  scimitar, 
when  the  sundered  rock  gave  passage  to  the  waters, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  lake  became  dry.  He  then  de- 
scended from  the  mountain,  and  began  to  walk  about 
the  valley  in  all  directions." — The  Phoenix,  Yol.  II., 
pp.  147-148. 

21  Jap.  Kwannon,  god  or  goddess  of  mercy,  in  his 
or  her  manifold  forms,  Thousand-handed,  Eleven-faced, 
Horse-headed,  Holy,  etc. 

22  Or,  The  Lotus  of  the  Good  Law,  a  mystical  name 
for  the  cosmos.    "  The  good  law  is  made  plain  by  flow- 
ers of  rhetoric."    See  Bernouf  and  Kern's  translations, 
and  Edkin's  Chinese  Buddhism,  pp.  43,  214.     Transla- 
tions of  this  work,  so  influential  in  Japanese  Buddhism, 
exist  in  French,  German,  and  English.     See  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East,  Yol.  XXL,  by  Professor  H.  Kern, 
of  Leyden  University.     In  the  Introduction,  p.  xxxix., 
the  translator  discusses  age,  authorship,  editions,  etc. 
Bunyiu  Nanjio's  Short  History  of  the  Twelve   Jap- 
ananese   Buddhist  Sects,   pp.  132-134.     Beal  in  his 


410  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Catena  of  Buddhist  Scriptures,  pp.  389-396,  lias  trans- 
lated Chapter  XXIY. 

23  At  the  great  Zenkoji,  a  temple  of  the  Tendai  sect, 
at  Nagano,  Japan,  dedicated  to  three  Buddhist  divin- 
ities, one  of  whom  is  Kwannon  (Avalokitesvara),  the 
rafters  of  the  vast  main  hall  are  said  to  number  69,384, 
in  reference  to  the  number  of  Chinese  characters  con- 
tained in  the  translation  of  the  Saddharma  Pundarika. 

24  "  The  third  (collection  of  the  Tripitaka)  was    .     .    . 
made  by  Manjusri  and   Maitreya.     This  is   the  col- 
lection of  the  Mahayana  books.     Though  it  is  as  clear 
or  bright  as  the  sun  at  midday  yet  the  men  of  the 
Hinayana  are  not  ashamed  of  their  inability  to  know 
them  and  speak  evil  of  them  instead,  just  as  the  Con- 
fucianists  call  Buddhism  a  law  of  barbarians,  without 
reading  the  Buddhist  books  at  all." — B.  N.,  p.  51. 

':5  See  the  writings  of  Brian  Hodgson,  J.  Edkins,  E. 
J.  Eitel,  S.  Beal,  T.  Ehys  Davids,  Bunyiu  Nanjio, 
etc. 

26  See  Chapter  VIII.  in  T.  Ehys  Davids's  Buddhism, 
a  book  of  great  scholarship  and  marvellous  condensa- 
tion. 

27  Davids's  Buddhism,  p.  206.     Other  illustrations  of 
the  growth  of  the  dogmas  of  this  school  of  Buddhism 
we  select  from  Brian  Hodgson's  writings. 

1.  The  line  of  division  between  God  and  man,  and 
between  gods  and  man,  was  removed  by  Buddhism. 

"  Genuine  Buddhism  never  seems  to  contemplate  any 
measures  of  acceptance  with  the  deity ;  but,  overleap- 
ing the  barrier  between  finite  and  infinite  mind,  urges 
its  followers  to  aspire  by  their  own  efforts  to  that  di- 
vine perfectibility  of  which  it  teaches  that  man  is  ca- 
pable, and  by  attaining  which  man  becomes  God — and 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       411 

thus  is  explained  both  the  quiescence  of  the  imaginary 
celestial,  and  the  plenary  omnipotence  of  the  real 
Manushi  Buddhas — thus,  too,  we  must  account  for  the 
fact  that  genuine  Buddhism  has  no  priesthood ;  the 
saint  despises  the  priest ;  the  saint  scorns  the  aid  of 
mediators,  whether  on  earth  or  in  heaven  ;  '  conquer 
(exclaims  the  adept  or  Buddha  to  the  novice  or  Bodhi- 
Sattwa) — conquer  the  importunities  of  the  body,  urge 
your  mind  to  the  meditation  of  abstraction,  and  you 
shall,  in  time,  discover  the  great  secret  (Sunyata)  of 
nature :  know  this,  and  you  become,  on  the  instant, 
whatever  priests  have  feigned  of  Godhead — you  be- 
come identified  with  Prajna,  the  sum  of  all  the  power 
and  all  the  wisdom  which  sustain  and  govern  the  world, 
and  which,  as  they  are  manifested  out  of  matter,  must 
belong  solely  to  matter ;  not  indeed  in  the  gross  and 
palpable  state  of  pravritti,  but  in  the  archetypal  and 
pure  state  of  nirvritti.  Put  off,  therefore,  the  vile, 
pravrittika  necessities  of  the  body,  and  the  no  less  vile 
affections  of  the  mind  (Tapas) ;  urge  your  thought  into 
pure  abstraction  (Dhyana),  and  then,  as  assuredly  you 
can,  so  assuredly  you  shall,  attain  to  the  wisdom  of  a 
Buddha  (Bodhijnana),  and  become  associated  with  the 
eternal  unity  and  rest  of  nirvritti.' " — The  Phoenix,  Yol. 
L,  p.  194. 

2.  A  specimen  of  "  esoteric  "  and  "  exoteric  "  Buddh- 
ism ;  —  the  Buddha  Tathagata. 

"  And  as  the  wisdom  of  man  is,  in  its  origin,  but  an 
effluence  of  the  Supreme  wisdom  (Prajna)  of  nature,  so 
is  it  perfected  by  a  refluence  to  its  source,  but  without 
loss  of  individuality ;  whence  Prajna  is  feigned  in  the 
exoteric  system  to  be  both  the  mother  and  the  wife  of 
all  the  Buddhas,  'janani  sarva  Buddhdndm?  and  '  Jina- 


412  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

sundari  ;  '  for  the  efflux  is  typified  by  a  birth,  and  the 
reflux  by  a  marriage. 

"  The  Buddha  is  the  adept  ill  the  wisdom  of  Buddh- 
ism (Bodhijndnd)  whose  first  duty,  so  long  as  he  remains 
on  earth,  is  to  communicate  his  wisdom  to  those  who 
are  willing  to  receive  it.  These  willing  learners  are 
the  '  Bodhisattwas,'  so  called  from  their  hearts  being 
inclined  to  the  wisdom  of  Buddhism,  and  '  Sanghas,' 
from  their  companionship  with  one  another,  and  with 
their  Buddha  or  teacher,  in  the  Vihdras  or  ccenobitical 
establishments." 

"  And  such  is  the  esoteric  interpretation  of  the  third 
(and  inferior)  member  of  the  Prajniki  Triad.  The 
Bodhisattwa  or  Sangha  continues  to  be  such  until  he 
has  surmounted  the  very  last  grade  of  that  vast  and 
laborious  ascent  by  which  he  is  instructed  that  he  can 
'  scale  the  heavens,'  and  pluck  immortal  wisdom  from 
its  resplendent  source  :  which  achievement  performed, 
he  becomes  a  Buddha,  that  is,  an  Omniscient  Being, 
and  a  Tathdgata — a  title  implying  the  accomplishment 
of  that  gradual  increase  in  wisdom  by  which  man  be- 
comes immortal  or  ceases  to  be  subject  to  transmigra- 
tion."—The  Phoenix,  Vol.  L,  pp.  194,  195. 

3.  Is  God  all,  or  is  all  God? 

"  What  that  grand  secret,  that  ultimate  truth,  that 
single  reality,  is,  whether  all  is  God,  or  God  is  all, 
seems  to  be  the  sole  propositum  of  the  oriental  philo- 
sophic religionists,  who  have  all  alike  sought  to  dis- 
cover it  by  taking  the  high  priori  road.  That  God  is 
all,  appears  to  be  the  prevalent  dogmatic  determina- 
tion of  the  Brahmanists  ;  that  all  is  God,  the  preferen- 
tial but  sceptical  solution  of  the  Buddhists  :  and,  in  a 
large  view,  I  believe  it  would  be  difficult  to  indicate 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       413 

any  further  essential  difference  between  their  theoretic 
systems,  both,  as  I  conceive,  the  unquestionable 
growth  of  the  Indian  soil,  and  both  founded  upon 
transcendental  speculation,  conducted  in  the  very 
same  style  and  manner." — The  Phoenix,  Vol.  II.,  p. 
45. 

4.  Buddha,  Dharma,  and  Sangha. 

"  In  a  philosophical  light,  the  precedence  of  Buddha 
or  of  Dharma  indicates  the  theistic  or  atheistic  school. 
With  the  former,  Buddha  is  intellectual  essence,  the 
efficient  cause  of  all,  and  underived.  Dharma  is  ma- 
terial essence,  the  plastic  cause,  and  underived,  a  co- 
equal biunity  with  Buddha ;  or  else  the  plastic  cause, 
as  before,  but  dependent  and  derived  from  Buddha. 
Sangha  is  derived  from,  and  compounded  of,  Buddha, 
and  Dharma,  is  their  collective  energy  in  the  state  of 
action  ;  the  immediate  operative  cause  of  creation,  its 
type  or  its  agent.  With  the  latter  or  atheistic  schools, 
Dharma  is  Diva  natura,  matter  as  the  sole  entity,  in- 
vested with  intrinsic  activity  and  intelligence,  the  effi- 
cient and  material  cause  of  all. 

"  Buddha  is  derivative  from  Dharma,  is  the  active 
and  intelligent  force  of  nature,  first  put  off  from  it  and 
then  operating  upon  it.  Sangha  is  the  result  of  that 
operation  ;  is  embryotic  creation,  the  type  and  sum  of 
all  specific  forms,  which  are  spontaneously  evolved 
from  the  union  of  Buddha  with  Dharma." — The  Phoe- 
nix, Vol.  II.,  p.  12. 

5.  The  mantra  or  sacred  sentence  best  known  in  the 
Buddhadom  and  abroad. 

"  Amitdbha  is  the  fourth  Dliyani  or  celestial  Buddha: 
Padma-pani  his  JEon  and  executive  minister.  Pad- 
ma-pani  is  the  prcesens  Divus  and  creator  of  the  exist- 


414  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

ing  system  of  worlds.  Hence  his  identification  with 
the  third  member  of  the  Triad.  He  is  figured  as  a 
graceful  youth,  erect,  and  bearing  in  either  hand  a 
lotos  and  a  jewel.  The  last  circumstance  explains  the 
meaning  of  the  celebrated  Shadakshari  Mantra,  or  six- 
lettered  invocation  of  him,  viz.,  Om  !  Manipadme  horn  ! 
of  which  so  many  corrupt  versions  and  more  corrupt 
interpretations  have  appeared  from  Chinese,  Tibetan, 
Mongolian,  and  other  sources.  The  mantra  in  ques- 
tion is  one  of  three,  addressed  to  the  several  members 
of  the  Triad.  1.  Om  sarva  vidye  horn.  2.  Om  Praj- 
ndye  horn.  3.  Om  mani-padme  horn.  1.  The  mystic 
triform  Deity  is  in  the  all- wise  (Buddha).  2.  The 
mystic  triform  Deity  is  in  Prajna  (Dharma).  3.  The 
mystic  triform  Deity  is  in  him  of  the  jewel  and  lotos 
(Sangha).  But  the  praesens  Divus,  whether  he  be  Au- 
gustus or  Padma-pani,  is  everything  with  the  many. 
Hence  the  notoriety  of  this  mantra,  whilst  the  others 
are  hardly  ever  heard  of,  and  have  thus  remained 
unknown  to  our  travellers." — The  Phoenix,  Vol.  II.,, 
p.  64. 

28 "  Nine  centuries  after  Buddha,  Maitreya  (Miroku 
or  Ji-shi)  came  down  from  the  Tushita  heaven  to  the 
lecture-hall  in  the  kingdom  of  Ayodhya  (A-ya-sha)  in 
Central  India,  at  the  request  of  the  Bodhisattva 
Asamga  (Mu-jaku)  and  discoursed  five  Sastras,  1, 
Yoga-karya-blmmi-sastra  (Yu-ga-shi-ji-ron),  etc.  .  .  . 
After  that,  the  two  great  Sastra  teachers,  Asanga 
and  Vasubandhu  (Se-shin),  who  were  brothers,  com- 
posed many  Sastras  (Ron)  and  cleared  up  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Mahayana "  (or  Greater  Vehicle,  canon  of 
Northern  Buddhism).— B.  N,  p.  32. 

29  Buddhism,  T.  Rhys  Davids,  pp.  206-211. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       415 

30  Prayer-wheels  in  Japan  are  used  by  the  Tendai 
and  Shingon    sects,  but  without  written   prayers    at- 
tached, and  rather  as  an  illustration  of  the  doctrine  of 
cause  and  effect  (ingwa) ;  the  prayers  being  usually  of- 
fered to  Jizo  the  merciful. — S.  and  H.,  p.  29 ;  T.  J.,  p. 
360. 

31  For  this  see  Edkins's  Chinese  Buddhism  ;  Eitel's 
Three   Lectures,   and    Hand  -  book ;    Kev.    S.   Seal's 
Buddhism,  and  A  Catena  of  Buddhist  Scriptures  from 
the  Chinese ;  The  Eomantic  Legend  of  Sakya  Buddha, 
from   the  Chinese ;  Texts  from   the   Buddhist   canon 
commonly  known    as   the   Dhammapeda ;    Notes   on 
Buddhist  Words  and  Phrases,  tii3   Chrysanthemum, 
Yol.  I. ;  The  Phoenix,  Vols.  I.-III. 

See,  also,  a  spirited  sketch  of  Ancient  Japan,  by 
Frederick  Victor  Dickins,  in  the  Life  of  Sir  Harry 
Parkes,  Yol.  II.,  pp.  4-14 

32  S.  and  H.,  pp.  289,  293 ;  Chamberlain's  Hand-book 
for  Japan,  p.  220  ;  Summer's  Notes  on  Osaka,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Yol.   VII.,   p.  382 ;   Buddhism,    and  Traditions  Con- 
cerning its  Introduction  into  Japan,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol. 
XIV.,  p.  78. 

33  S.  and  H.,  p.  344. 

34  T.  J.,  p.  73. 

35  Yairokana  is  the  first  or  chief  of  the  five  personi- 
fications of  Wisdom,  and  in  Japan  the  idol  is  espe- 
cially noticeable  in  the  temples  of  the  Tendai  sect. — 
"  The  Action  of  Yairokana,  or  the  great  doctrine  of 
the  highest  vehicle  of  the  secret  union,"  etc.,  B.  N.,  p. 
75. 

36  S.  and  H.,  p.  390;  B.  N.,  p.  29. 

37 "  Hinduism  stands  for  philosophic  spirituality  and 
emotion,  Buddhism  for  ethics  and  humanity,  Chris- 


416  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tianity  for  fulness  of  God's  incarnation  in  man,  while 
Mohammedanism  is  the  champion  of  uncompromising 
monotheism." — F.  P.  C.  Mozoomdar's  The  Spirit  of 
God,  Boston,  1894,  p.  305. 


CHAPTEK  VH 

RIY5BU,   OR  MIXED  BUDDHISM 

1  Is  not  something  similar  frankly  attempted  in  Eev. 
Dr.  Joseph  Edkins's  The  Early  Spread  of  Eeligious 
Ideas  in  the  Far  East  (London,  1893)  ? 

2  M.  E.,  p.  252 ;  Honda  the  Samurai,  pp.  193-194 

3  See  The  Lily  Among  Thorns,  A  Study  of  the  Bibli- 
cal Drama  Entitled  the  Song  of  Songs  (Boston  1890), 
in  which  this  subject  is  glanced  at. 

4  See  The  Eeligion  of  Nepaul,  Buddhist  Philosophy, 
and  the  writings  of  Brian  Hodgson  in  The  Phoenix, 
Vols.  I.,  II.,  III. 

5  See   Century  Dictionary,  Yoga  ;  Edkins's  Chinese 
Buddhism,  pp.  169-174  ;  T.  Khys  Davids's  Buddhism, 
pp.  206-211 ;   Index  of  B.  N.,  under  Vagrasattwa ;  S. 
and  H.,  pp.  85-87. 

6  T.  J.,  p.  226 ;  Kojiki,  Introduction. 

7  See  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
1893,  a  very  valuable  paper  by  Mr.  L.  A.  Waddell,  on 
The  Northern  Buddhist  Mythology,  epitomized  in  the 
Japan  Mail,  May  5,  1894. 

8  See  Catalogue  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  Paintings 
in  the   British  Museum,  and  The   Pictorial   Arts   of 
Japan,  by  William  Anderson,  M.D, 

9  Anderson's  Catalogue,  p.  24. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,  ILLUSTRATIONS       417 

10  S.  and  H.,  p.  415 ;  Chamberlain's  Hand-book  for 
Japan  ;  T.  J. ;  M.  E.,  p.  162,  etc. 

11  The  names  of  Buddhist  priests   and  monks  are 
usually  different  from  those  of  the  laity,  being  taken 
from  events  in  the  life  of  Gautama,  or  his  original  dis- 
ciples,  passages  in  the  sacred  classics,  etc.     Among 
some  personal  acquaintances  in  the  Japanese  priest- 
hood were  such  names  as  Lift-the-Kettle,  Take-Hold- 
of-the-Dipper,  Drivelling-Drunkard,  etc.     In  the  raci- 
ness,  oddity,  literalness,  realism,  and  close  connection 
of  their  names  with  the  scriptures  of  their  system,  the 
Buddhists  quite  equal  the  British  Puritans. 

12  Kern's  Saddharma-Pundarika,  pp.  311,  314 ;  Da- 
vids's  Buddhism  p.  208  ;  The  Phoenix,  Vol.  L,  p.  169 ; 
S.  and  H.,  p.  502  ;  Du  Bose's  Dragon,  Demon,  and 
Image,  p.  407 ;  Fuso  Mimi  Bukuro,  p.  134 ;  Hough's 
Corean   Collections,  Washington,  1893,  p.   480,  plate 
xxviii. 

13  Japan  in  History,  Folk-lore  and  Art,  pp.  86,  80- 
88  ;  A  Japanese  Grammar,  by  J.  J.  Hoffman,  p.  10  ;  T. 
J.,  pp.  465-470. 

14  This  is  the  essence  of  Buddhism,  and  was  for  cen- 
turies repeated  and  learned  by  heart  throughout  the 
empire : 

"  Love  and  enjoyment  disappear, 

What  in  our  world  endureth  here  ? 
E'en  should  this  day  in  oblivion  be  rolled, 
Twas  only  a  vision  that  leaves  me  cold." 

15  This  legend  suggests  the  mediaeval  Jewish  story, 
that  Ezra,  the  scribe,  could  write  with  five  pens  at 
once ;  Hearn's  Glimpses  of  Unfamiliar  Japan,  pp.  29- 
33. 

27 


418  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

16  Brave  Little  Holland,  and  What  She  Taught  Us, 
p.  124 

17  T.  J.,  pp.  75,  342  ;  Chamberlain's  Hand-book  for 
Japan,  p.  41 ;  M.  E.,  p.  162. 

18  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  II.,  p.  101 ;  S.  and  H.,  p.  176. 

19  It  was  for  lifting  with  his  walking-stick  the  curtain 
hanging  before  the  shrine  of  this  Kami  that  Arinori 
Mori,  formerly  H.I.J.M.  Minister  at  Washington  and 
London,  was  assassinated  by  a  Shinto  fanatic,  February 
11,  1889  ;  T.  J.,  p.  229  ;  see  Percival  Lowell's  paper  in 
the  Atlantic  Monthly. 

20  See  Mr.  P.  Lowell's  Esoteric  Shinto,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  XXL,   pp.  165-167,  and  his  "  Occult  Japan." 

21  S.  and  H.,  Japan,  p.  83. 

22  See    the   Author's   Introduction   to   the   Arabian 
Nights'  Entertainments,  Boston,  1891. 

23  B.  N.,  Index  and  pp.    78-103 ;  Edkins's  Chinese 
Buddhism,  p.  169. 

24  Satow's    or   Chamberlain's    Guide-books   furnish 
hundreds  of  other  instances,  and  describe  temples  in 
which  the  renamed  kami  are  worshipped. 

25  S.  and  H.,  p.  70. 

26  M.  E.,  pp.  187,  188 ;  S.  and  H.,  pp.  11,  12. 

27  San  Kai   Ri  (Mountain,   Sea,    and  Land).     This 
work,  recommended  to  me  by  a  learned  Buddhist  priest 
in  Fukui,  I  had  translated  and  read  to  me  by  a  Buddhist 
of  the  Shin  Shu  sect.     In  like  manner,  even  Christian 
writers  in  Japan  have  occasionally  endeavored  to  ration- 
alize the  legends  of  Shinto,  see  Kojiki,  p.  liii.,  where 
Mr.  T.  Goro's  Shinto  Shin-ron  is  referred  to.    I  have  to 
thank  my  friend  Mr.  E,  Watanabe",  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, for  reading  to  me  Mr.  Takahashi's  interesting  but 
unconvincing  monographs  on  Shinto  and  Bucldliisjn, 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       419 

28  T.  J.,  p.  402  ;  Some  Chinese  Ghosts,  by  Lafcadio 
Hearn,  p.  129. 

29  S.  and  H.,  Japan,  p.  397  ;  Classical  Poetry  of  the 
Japanese,  p.  201,  note. 

30  The  Japanese  word  Kyo  means  both,  and  is  ap- 
plied to  the  eyes,  ears,  feet,  things  correspondent  or  in 
pairs,  etc.  ;  bu  is  a  term  for  a  set,  kind,  group,  etc. 

31  Kein,  p.  432  ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XXI.,  pp.  241-270 ; 
T.  J.,  p.  339. 

32  The  Chrysanthemum,  Yol.  L,  p.  401. 

33  Even  the  Taketori  Monogatari  (The  Bamboo  Cut- 
ter's Daughter),  the  oldest  and  the  best  of  the  Japanese 
classic  romances  is  (at  least  in  the  text  and  form  now 
extant)  a  warp  of  native  ideas  with  a  woof  of  Buddhist 
notions. 

34  Mr.   Percival  Lowell   argues,  in  Esoteric  Shinto, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  XXI.,  that  besides  the  habit  of  pilgrim- 
ages, fire-walking,  and  god-possession,  other  practices 
supposed  to  be  Buddhistic  are  of  Shinto  origin. 

35  The  native  literature  illustrating  Eiyobuism  is  not 
extensive.     Mr.  Ernest  Satow  in  the  American  Cyclo- 
paedia  (Japan :  Literature)  mentions  several  volumes. 
The  Tenchi  Heiki  Noko,  in  eighteen  books  contains  a 
mixture  of  Buddhism  and  Shinto,  and  is  ascribed  by 
some  to  Shotoku  and  by  others  to  Kobo,   but  now 
literary  critics   ascribe   these,  as  well   as  the  books 
Jimbetsuki  and  Tenshoki,  to  be  modern  forgeries  by 
Buddhist  priests.     The  Kogoshiui,  written  in  A.D.  807, 
professes  to  preserve  fragments  of  ancient  tradition  not 
recorded  in  the  earlier  books,  but  the  main  object  is 
that  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  a  vast  mass  of  Japanese 
literature,  namely,  to  prove  the  author's  own  descent 
from  the  gods.     The  Yuiitsu  Shinto  Miyoho  Yoshiu, 


420  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

in  two  volumes,  is  designed  to  prove  that  Shinto  and 
Buddhism  are  identical  in  their  essence.  Indeed,  al- 
most all  the  treatises  on  Shinto  before  the  seventeenth 
century  maintained  this  view.  Certain  books  like  the 
Shinto  Shu,  for  centuries  popular,  and  well  received 
even  by  scholars,  are  now  condemned  on  account  of 
their  confusion  of  the  two  religions.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  works  which  we  have  found  is  the  San  Kai 
Ei,  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 

36  T.  J.,  p.  224. 

37  "  Human  life  is  but  fifty  years,"  Japanese  Proverb  ; 
M.  E.,  p.  107. 

38  Chamberlain's  Classical  Poetry  of  the  Japanese,  p. 
130. 

39  S.  and  H.,  p.  416. 

40  Things  Chinese,  by  J.  Dyer  Ball,  p.  70  ;  see  also 
Edkins  and  Eitel. 

41  The  Japan  Weekly  Mail  of  April  28,  1893,  trans- 
lating and  condensing  an  article  from  the  Bukkyo,  a 
Buddhist  newspaper,  gives  the  results  of  a  Japanese 
Buddhist    student's    tour    through    China — "Taoism 
prevails  everywhere.     .     .     .  Buddhism  has  decayed 
and  is  almost  dead." 

42Vaisramana  is  a  Deva  who  guarded,  praised,  fed 
with  heavenly  food,  and  answered  the  questions  of  the 
Chinese  Do-sen  (608-907  A.D.)  who  founded  the  Eisshu 
or  Vinaya  sect. — B.  N.,  p.  25. 

43  Anderson,  Catalogue,  pp.  29-45. 

44  Some   of   these  are  pictured   in  Aime  Humbert's 
Japon  Illustre,  and  from  the  same  pictures  reproduced 
by  electro-plates  which,  from  Paris,  have  transmigrated 
for  a  whole  generation  through  the  cheaper  books  on 
Japan,  in  every  European  language. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       421 
CHAPTEE  YIII 

NORTHERN  BUDDHISM    IN  ITS   DOCTRINAL   EVOLUTIONS 

1  On  the  Buddhist  canon,  see  the  writings  of  Beal, 
Spence  Hardy,  T.  Khys  Davids,  Bunyiu  Nanjio,  etc. 

2Edkins's  Chinese  Buddhism,  pp.  43,  108,  214 ;  Clas- 
sical Poetry  of  the  Japanese,  p.  173. 

3 See  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  XIX.,  Part  I.,  pp.  17-37  ;  The 
Soul  of  the  Far  East ;  and  the  writings  of  Chamber- 
lain, Aston,  Dickins,  Munzinger,  etc. 

4  Much  of  the  information  as  to  history  and  doctrine 
contained  in  this  chapter  has  been  condensed  from 
Mr.  Bunyiu  Nanjio's  A  Short  History  of  the  Twelve 
Japanese  Buddhist  Sects,  translated  out  of  the  Japan- 
ese into  English.  This  author,  besides  visiting  the  old 
seats  of  the  faith  in  China,  studied  Sanskrit  at  Oxford 
with  Professor  Max  Miiller,  and  catalogued  in  English 
the  Tripitaka  or  Buddhist  canon  of  China  and  Japan, 
sent  to  England  by  the  ambassador  Iwakura.  The 
nine  reverend  gentlemen  who  wrote  the  chapters  and 
introduction  of  the  Short  History  are  Messrs.  Ko-cho 
Ogurusu,  and  Shu-Zan  Emura  of  the  Shin  sect ;  Kev. 
Messrs.  Sho-hen  Ueda,  and  Dai-ryo  Takashi,  of  the 
Shin-gon  Sect ;  Eev.  Messrs.  Gyo-kai  Fukuda,  Ken- 
ko  Tsuji,  Ken  jo  Akamatsu,  and  Ze-jun  Kobayashi  of 
the  Jo-do,  Zen,  Shin,  and  Nichiren  sects,  respectively. 
Though  execrably  printed,  and  the  English  only  toler- 
able, the  work  is  invaluable  to  the  student  of  Japanese 
Buddhism.  It  has  a  historical  introduction  and  a 
Sanskrit-Chinese  Index,  1  vol.,  pp.  172,  Tokio,  1887. 
Substantially  the  same  work,  translated  into  French, 


422  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

is  Le  Bouddhisme  Japonais,  by  Eyauon  Fujishinia, 
Paris,  1889.  Satow  and  Hawes's  Hand-book  for  Japan 
has  brief  but  valuable  notes  in  the  Introduction,  and, 
like  Chamberlain's  continuation  of  the  same  work, 
is  a  storehouse  of  illustrative  matter.  Edkins's  and 
Eitel's  works  on  Chinese  Buddhism  have  been  very 
helpful. 

5  M.  Abel  Eemusat  published  a  translation  of  a  Chi- 
nese Pilgrim's  travels  in  1836 ;  M.  Stanislais  Julien 
completed  his  volume  on  Hiouen  Thsang  in  1858 ;  and 
in  1884  Eev.  Samuel  Beal  issued  his  Travels  of  Fah- 
Hian  and  Sung-Yun,  Buddhist  Pilgrims  from  China  to 
India  (400  A.D.  and  518  A.D.).  The  latter  work  contains 
a  map. 

6B.  N.,  p.  3. 

7B.  N.,  p.  11. 

8  Three  hundred  and  twenty  million  years.  See  Cen- 
tury Dictionary. 

9  See  the  paper  of  Eev.  Sho-hen  Ueda  of  the  Shin- 
gon  sect,  in  B.  N.,  pp.  20-31 ;  and  E.  Fujishima's  Le 
Bouddhisme  Japonais,  pp.  xvi.,  xvii.,  from  which  most 
of  the  information  here  given  has  been  derived. 

10 M.  R,  p.  383  ;  S.  and  H.,  pp.  23,  30. 

The  image  of  Binzuru  is  found  in  many  Japanese 
temples  to-day,  a  famous  one  being  at  Asakusa,  in 
Tokio.  He  is  the  supposed  healer  of  all  diseases. 
The  image  becomes  entirely  rubbed  smooth  by  devo- 
tees, to  the  extinguishment  of  all  features,  lines,  and 
outlines. 

11  Davids's  Buddhism,  pp.  180,  200 ;  S.  and  H.,  pp. 
(87)  389,  416. 

12 B.  N.,  pp.  32^3. 

13B.  N.,  pp.  44-56. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       423 

14  Japanese  Fairy  World,  p.  282 ;  Anderson's  Cata- 
logue, pp.  103-7. 

15  B.  N.,  p.  62. 

16  Pf oundes,  Fuso  Mimi  Bukuro,  p.  102. 

17  B.  N.,  p.  58.     See  also  The  Monist  for  January, 
1894,  p.  168. 

is «  Tien  Tai,  a  spot  abounding  in  Buddhist  antiqui- 
ties, the  earliest,  and  except  Puto  the  largest  and  rich- 
est seat  of  that  religion  in  eastern  China.  As  a  mo- 
nastic establishment  it  dates  from  the  fourth  century." 
— Edkins's  Chinese  Buddhism,  pp.  137-142. 

19  S.  and  H.,  p.  87.     See  the  paper  read  at  the  Par- 
liament of  Keligions  by  the  Zen  bonze  Ashitsu  of  Hi- 
yeisan,  the  poem  of  Eight  Keverend  Shaku  Soyen,  and 
the  paper  on  The  Fundamental  Teachings  of  Buddh- 
ism, in  The  Monist  for  January,  1894 ;  Japan  As  We 
Saw  It,  p.  297. 

20  See  Century  Dictionary,  mantra. 

21  See  Chapter  XX.  Ideas  and  Symbols  in  Japan  :  in 
History,  Folk-lore,  and  Art.     Buddhist  tombs  (go-rin) 
consist   of  a  cube   (earth),    sphere    (water),   pyramid 
(fire),  crescent  (wind),  and  flame-shaped  stone  (ether), 
forming  the  go-rin  or  five-blossom  tomb,  typifying  the 
five  elements. 

22  B.  N.,  p.  78. 

23  To  put  this  dogma  into  intelligible  English  is,  as 
Mr.  Satow  says,  more  difficult  than  to  comprehend  the 
whole  doctrine,  hard  as  that  may  be.     "  Dai  Nichi  Ni- 
yorai  (Yairokana)  is  explained  to  be  the  collectivity  of 
all   sentient   beings,  acting  through  the   mediums   of 
Kwan-non,  Ji-zo,  Mon-ju,  Shaka,  and  other  influences 
which  are  popularly  believed  to  be  self-existent  dei- 
ties."    In  the  diagram  called  the  eight-leaf  enclosure, 


424  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

by  which  the  mysteries  of  Shingon  are  explained, 
Maha-Yairokana  is  in  the  centre,  and  on  the  eight 
petals  are  such  names  as  Amitabha,  Manjusri,  Mait- 
reya,  and  Avalokitesvara ;  in  a  word,  all  are  purely 
speculative  beings,  phantoms  of  the  brain,  the  mush- 
rooms of  decayed  Brahmanism,  and  the  mould  of 
primitive  Buddhism  disintegrated  by  scholasticism. 

24  S.  and  H.,  p.  31. 

25  B.  N.,  p.  115. 

26  Here  let  me  add  that  in  my  studies  of  oriental  and 
ancient  religion,  I  have  never  found  one  real  Trinity, 
though  triads,   or  tri-murti,  are   common.      None  of 
these  when  carefully  analyzed  yield  the  Christian  idea 
of  the  Trinity. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  BUDDHISM  OF   THE  JAPANESE 

1  Tathagata  is  one  of  the  titles  of  the  Buddha,  mean- 
ing "  thus  come,"  i.e.,  He  comes  bringing  human  nat- 
ure as  it  truly  is,  with  perfect  knowledge  and  high  in- 
telligence, and  thus  manifests  himself.     Amitabha,  is 
the  Sanskrit  of  Arnida,  or  the  deification  of  boundless 
light. 

2  B.  N.,  p.  104. 

3  Literally,  I  yield  to,  or  I  adore  the  Boundless  or 
the  Immeasurable  Buddha. 

4  A   Chinese   or  Japanese  volume  is  much  smaller 
than  the  average  printed  volume  in  Europe. 

5  Legacy   of   lyeyasii,    Section   xxviii.     Doctrinally, 
this   famous   document,    written  probably   long   after 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       425 

lyeyasu's  death  and  canonization  as  a  gongen,  is   a 
mixture  or  Riyobu  of  Confucianism  and  Buddhism. 

6  At  first  glance   a  forcible   illustration,    since   the 
Japanese  proverb  declares  that  "  A  sea- voyage  is  an 
inch  of  hell."     And  yet  the  original  saying  of  Ryu-ju, 
now  proverbial  in  Buddhadom,  referred  to  the  ease  of 
sailing  over  the  water,  compared  with  the  difficulty  of 
surmounting  the  obstacles  of  land  travel  in  countries 
not  yet  famous  for  good  roads.     See  B.  N,  p.  111. 

7  Fuso  Mimi  Bukuro,  p.  108  ;  Descriptive  Notes  on 
the  Rosaries  as  used  by  the  different  Sects  of  Buddh- 
ists in  Japan,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  IX.,  pp.  173-182. 

8B.  N,  p.  122. 
9S.  andH.,  p.  361. 

10  S.  and  H.,  pp.  [90-92] ;  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan, 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  242-253. 

11  These  three  sutras  are  those  most  in  favor  with 
the  Jo-do  sect  also,  they  are  described,  B.  N.,  104-10G, 
and  their  tenets  are  referred  to  on  pp.  260,  261. 

12  For  modern  statements  of  Shin  tenets  and  prac- 
tices, see  E.  J.  Eeed's  Japan,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  84-86 ;  Tho 
Chrysanthemum,  April,  1881,  pp.  109-115  ;  Unbeaten 
Tracks  in  Japan,  Vol.  II,  242-246;  B.    N.,  122-131. 
Edkins's  Religion  in  China,  p.  153.     The    Chrysan- 
themum, April,  1881,  p.  115. 

13  S.  and  H,  p.  361 ;  B.  N.,  pp.  105,  106.     Toward 
the  end  of  the  Amitayus-dhyana  sutra,  Buddha  says : 
"  Let  not  one's  voice  cease,  but  ten  times  complete 
the  thought,  and  repeat  Namo'mitabhaya    Buddhaya 
(Namu    Amida    Butsu)    or    adoration    to   Amitbaha 
Buddha." 

14M.E.,  pp.  164-166. 

15  SchafFs  Encyclopaedia,  Article,  Buddhism. 


426  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

16  On  the  Tenets  of  the  Shin  Shiu,  or  "True  Sect" 
of  Buddhists,  T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XIV,  p.  1. 

17  The    Gobunsho,  or    Ofumi,   of    Rennyo   Shonin, 
T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XVII,  pp.  101-143. 

18  At  the  gorgeous  services  in  honor  of  the  founder 
of  the  great  Higashi  Hongwanji  Western  Temple  of 
the  Original  Vow  at  Asakusa,  Tokio,  November  21  to 
28,  annually,  the  women  attend  wearing  a  head-dress 
called  "  horn-hider,"  which  seems  to  have  been  named 
in  allusion  to  a  Buddhist  text  which  says:  "A  wom- 
an's exterior  is  that  of  a  saint,  but  her  heart  is  that  of 
a  demon." — Chamberlain's  Hand-book  for  Japan,  p. 
82;   T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XVII,  pp.  106,  141;    Sacred 
Books  of  the  East,  Vol.  XXI,  pp.  251-254. 

19  Review  of  Buddhist  Texts  from  Japan,    The  Na- 
tion,  No.    875,   April   6,   1882.     "The   Malmyana  or 
Great  Vehicle  (we  might  fairly  render  it  'highfalut- 
in ')     school.     .     .     .     Filled  as  these  countries  [Ti- 
bet, China,  Japan]  are  with  Buddhist  monasteries,  and 
priests,  and  nominal  adherents,  and  abounding  in  volu- 
minous translations  of  the  Sanskrit  Buddhistic  litera- 
ture, little  understood  and  wellnigh  unintelligible  (for 
neither  country  has  had  the  independence  and  men- 
tal force  to  produce  a  literature  of  its  own,  or  to  r.dd 
anything  but  a  chapter  of  decay  to  the  history  of  this 
religion) " 

20  M.  E,  pp.  164, 165  ;  B.  N,  pp.  132-147 ;  Mitford's 
Tales  of  Old  Japan,  Vol.  II,  pp.  125-134. 

21  See  article  Demoniacal  Possessions,  T.  J,  106-113  ; 
T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XXI,  Esoteric  Shinto ;  Occult  Japan. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       427 


CHAPTEK  X 

JAPANESE    BUDDHISM    IN    ITS    MISSIONARY    DEVELOP- 
MENT 

1 T.  J.,  p.  71.  Further  illustrations  of  this  statement 
may  be  found  in  his  Classical  Poetry  of  the  Japanese, 
especially  in  the  Selection  and  Appendices  of  this 
book ;  also  in  T.  E.  H.  McClatchie's  Japanese  Plays 
(Versified),  London,  1890. 

2  See  Introduction  to  the  Kojiki,  pp.  xxxii.-xxxiv.,  and 
in  Bakin's  novel  illustrating  popular  Buddhist  beliefs, 
translated  by  Edward  Greey,  A  Captive  of  Love,  Bos- 
ton, 1886. 

3  See  jade  in  Century  Dictionary  ;  "  Magatama,    so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  do  not  ever  appear  to  have  been 
found   in    shell    heaps"    (of   the    aboriginal    Ainos), 
Milne's  Notes  on  Stone  Implements,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol. 
VIII.,  p.  71. 

4  Concerning  this  legendary,  and  possibly  mythical, 
episode,  which  has  so  powerfully  influenced  Japanese 
imagination  and  politics,  see  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVI., 
Part  L,  pp.  39-75  ;  M.  E.,  pp.  75-85. 

5  See  Corea,  the  Hermit  Nation,  pp.  1,  2  ;  Persian  Ele- 
ments in  Japanese  Legends,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVI., 
Part  I,  pp.  1-10  ;  Journal  of  the  Eoyal  Asiatic  Society, 
January,  1894.    Eein's  book,  The  Industries  of  Japan, 
points  out,  as  far  as  known,  the  material  debt  to  India. 
Some  Japanese  words  like  bcni-gari  (Bengal)  or  rouge 
show  at  once  their  origin.    The  mosaic  of  stories  in  the 
Taketori  Monogatari,  an  allegory  in  exquisite  literary 
form,  illustrating  the  Buddhist  dogma  of  Ingwa,  or  law 


428  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

of  cause  and  effect,  and  written  early  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, is  made  up  of  Chinese-Indian  elements.  See 
F.  Y.  Dickins's  translation  and  notes  in  Journal  of  the 
Eoyal  Oriental  Society,  Vol.  XIX.,  N.  S.  India  was 
the  far  off  land  of  gems,  wonders,  infallible  drugs, 
roots,  etc.;  Japanese  Fairy  World,  p.  137. 

6  M.  E.,  Chap.  VIII. ;  Klaproth's  Annales  des  Em- 
pereurs   du  Japon  (a  translation  of   Nippon   O   Dai 
Ichi  Ean)  ;  Kein's  Japan,  p.  224. 

7  See  Klaproth's  Annales,  passim.    S.  and  H.  p.  [85]. 
Bridges  are  often  symbolical  of  events,  classic  passages 
in  the  shastras  and  sutras,  or  are  antetypes  of  Paradisai- 
cal structures.    The  ordinary  native  hasJti  is  not  remark- 
able as  a  triumph  of  the  carpenter's  art,  though  some 
of  the  Japanese  books  mention  and  describe  in  detail 
some  structures  that  are  believed  to  be  astonishing. 

8  Often  amusingly  illustrated,  M.  E.,  p.  390.   A  trans- 
lation into  Japanese  of  Goethe's  Reynard  the  Fox  is 
among  the  popular  works  of  the  day.    "  Strange  to  say, 
however,  the   Japanese   lose   much   of  the    exquisite 
humor  of  this  satire  in  their  sympathy  with  the  woes 
of  the  maltreated  wolf." — The  Japan  Mail.    This  sym- 
pathy with  animals  grows  directly  out  of  the  doctrine 
of  metempsychosis.    The  relationship  between  man  and 
ape  is  founded  upon  the  pantheistic  identity  of  being. 
"  We  mention  sin,"  says  a  missionary  now  in  Japan, 
"  and  he  [the  average  auditor]  thinks  of  eating  flesh,  or 
the  killing  of  insects."     Many  of  the  sutras  read  like 
tracts  and  diatribes  of  vegetarians. 

9  See  The   Art  of  Landscape  Gardening  in  Japan, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XIV.  ;  Theory  of  Japanese  Flower 
Arrangements,  by  J.  Conder,  T.  A.  S.  J.,   Vol.  XVII. ; 
T.  J.,  p.  168 ;  M.  E.,  p.  437 ;  T.  J.,  p.  163. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       429 

10  The  book,  by  excellence,  on  the  Japanese  house,  is 
Japanese  Homes  and  Their  Surroundings,  by  E.  S. 
Morse.   See  also  Constructive  Art  in  Japan,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  II.,  p.  57,  III.,  p.  20 ;   Feudal  Mansions  of  Yedo, 
Vol.  VIL,  p.  157. 

11  See  Hearn's  Glimpses  of  Unfamiliar  Japan,  pp. 
385,  416,  and  passim. 

iaFor  pathetic  pictures  of  Japanese  daily  life,  see 
Our  Neighborhood,  by  the  late  Dr.  T.  A.  Purcell,  Yo- 
kohama, 1874 ;  A  Japanese  Boy,  by  Himself  (S.  Shi- 
gemi),  New  Haven,  1889 ;  Lafcadio  Hearn's  Glimpses 
of  Unfamiliar  Japan,  Boston,  1894. 

13  Klaproth's  Annales,  and  S.  and  H.  passim. 

14  See  Pfoundes's  Fuso  Mimi  Bukuro,  p.  130,  for  a  list 
of  grades  from  Ho-6  or  cloistered  emperor,  Miya  or 
sons  of  emperors,  chief  priests  of  sects,  etc.,  down  to 
priests   in   charge   of  inferior  temples.     This  Budget 
of  Notes,  pp.  99-144,  contains  much  valuable  informa- 
tion, and  was  one  of  the  first  publications  in  English 
which  shed  light  upon  the  peculiarities  of  Japanese 
Buddhism. 

15  Isaiah  xl.  19,  20,  and  xli.  6,  7,  read  to  the  dweller 
in  Japan  like  the  notes  of  a  reporter  taken  yesterday. 

16  T.   J.,  p.  339 ;    Notes  on  Some  Minor  Japanese 
Religious  Practices,  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  In- 
stitute, May,  1893  ;  Lowell's  Esoteric  Shinto,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.   XXI.;   Satow's    The    Shinto   Temples    of    Ise, 
T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  II,  p.  113. 

17  M.  E.  p.  45  ;  American  Cyclopaedia,  Japan,  Litera- 
ture— History,  Travels,  Diaries,  etc. 

18  That  is,  no  dialects  like  those  which  separate  the 
people  of  China.     The  ordinary  folks  of  Satsuma  and 
Suruga,  for  example,  however,  would  find  it  difficult  to 


430  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

understand  each  other  if  only  the  local  speech  were 
used.  Men  from  the  extremes  of  the  Empire  use  the 
Tokio  standard  language  in  communicating  with  each 
other. 

19  For  some  names  of  Buddhist  temples  in  Shimoda 
see  Perry's  Narrative,  pp.  470-474,  described  by  Dr.  S. 
Wells  Williams  ;  S.  and  H.  passim. 

20  The   Abbe   Hue  in  his   Travels  in   Tartary   was 
one  of  the  first  to  note  this  fact.   I  have  not  noticed  in 
my  reading  that  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in  Japan  in 
the  seventeenth  century  call  attention  to  the  matter. 
See  also  the  writings  of  Arthur  Lillie,  voluminous  but 
unconvincing,  Buddha  and  Early  Buddhism,  and  Bud- 
dhism and  Christianity,  London,  1893. 

21 M.  E.,  p.  252. 

22  T.  J.,  p.  70. 

23  See   The  Higher  Buddhism  in  the   Light  of  the 
Nicene  Creed,  Tokio,  1894,  by  Eev.  A.  Lloyd. 

24 "  I  preach  with  ever  the  same  voice,  taking  en- 
lightenment as  my  text.  For  this  is  equal  for  all ;  no 
partiality  is  in  it,  neither  hatred  nor  affection.  ...  I 
am  inexorable,  bear  no  love  or  hatred  towards  anyone, 
and  proclaim  the  law  to  all  creatures  without  distinc- 
tion, to  the  one  as  well  as  to  the  other." — Saddharma 
Pundarika. 

25  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan,  Vol.  II.,  p.  247. 

26  For  the  symbolism  of  the  lotus  see  M.  E.,  p.  437 ; 
Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan,  Vol.  I.,  p.  299 ;  M.  E.  in- 
dex; and   Saddharma  Pundarika,  Kern's  translation, 
p.  76,  note : 

"  Here  the  Buddha  is  represented  as  a  wise  and  be- 
nevolent father ;  he  is  the  heavenly  father,  Brahma. 
As  such  he  was  represented  as  sitting  on  a  '  lotus-seat/ 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       431 

How  common  this  representation  was  in  India,  at  least 
in  the  sixth  century  of  our  era,  appears  from  Varaha- 
mihira's  Brihat-Samhita,  Ch.  58,  44,  where  the  follow- 
ing rule  is  laid  down  for  the  Buddha  idols  :  *  Buddha 
shall  be  (represented)  sitting  on  a  lotus-seat,  like  the 
father  of  the  world.' ' 

27  See  The  Northern  Buddhist  Mythology  in  Journal 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  January,  1894. 

28  See  The  Pictorial  Arts  of  Japan,  and  Descriptive 
and  Historical  Catalogue,  William  Anderson,  pp.  13- 
94. 

29  See  fylfot  in  Century  Dictionary. 

30  The   word    vagra,   diamond,   is   a  constituent   in 
scores  of  names  of  sutras,  especially  those  whose  con- 
tents are  metaphysical  in  their  nature.     The  Vajrasan, 
Diamond  Throne  or  Thunderbolt  seat,  was  the  name 
applied  to  the  most  sacred  part  of  the  great  temple 
reared  by  Asoka  on  the  site  of  the  bodhi  tree,  under 
which    Gautama  received  enlightenment.     "  The  ada- 
mantine truths  of  Buddha  struck  like  a  thunderbolt 
upon  the  superstitions  of  his  age."     "  The  word  vagra 
has   the  two  senses  of  hardness  and  utility.     In  the 
former  sense  it  is  understood  to  be  compared  to  the 
secret  truth  which  is  always  in  existence  and  not  to  be 
broken.     In  the  latter  sense  it  implies  the  power  of 
the  enlightened,  that  destroys  the   obstacles  of  pas- 
sions."— B.  N.,  p.  88.     "  As  held  in  the  arms  of  Kwan- 
non  and  other  images  in  the  temples,"  the  vagra  or 
"  diamond  club  "  (is  that)  with  which  the  foes  of  the 
Buddhist  Church  are  to  be  crushed. — S.  and  H.,  p.  444. 
Each  of  the  gateway  gods  Ni-6  (two  Kings,  Indra  and 
Brahma)  "  bears  in  his  hand  the  tokko  (Sanskrit  vagra), 
an  ornament  originally  designed  to  represent  a 


432  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

mond  club,  and  now  used  by  priests  and  exorcists,  as 
a  religious  sceptre  symbolizing  the  irresistible  power 
of  prayer,  meditation,  and  incantation." — Chamber- 
lain's Hand-book  for  Japan,  p.  31. 

31  Jizo  is  the  compassionate  helper  of  all  in  trouble, 
especially  of  travellers,  of  mothers,  and  of  children. 
His  Sanskrit  name  is  Kshiugarbha.  His  idol  is  one 
of  the  most  common  in  Japan.  It  is  usually  neck- 
laced  with  baby's  bibs,  often  by  the  score,  while  the 
pedestal  is  heaped  with  small  stones  placed  there  by 
sorrowing  mothers. — S.  and  H.,  p.  29,  394  ;  Chamber- 
lain's Handbook  of  Japan,  29,  101.  Hearn's  Japan, 
p.  34,  and  passim. 

^Sanskrit  arhat  or  arhan,  meaning  worthy  or  de- 
serving, i.e.,  holy  man,  the  highest  rank  of  Buddhist 
saintship.  See  Century  Dictionary. 

33  M.  E.,  p.  201.  The  long  inscription  on  the  bell  in 
Wellesley  College,  which  summons  the  student-maid- 
ens to  their  hourly  tasks  has  been  translated  by  the 
author  and  Dr.  K.  Kurahara  and  is  as  follows  : 

1.  A  prose  preface  or  historical  statement. 

2.  Two  stanzas  of  Chinese  poetry,  in  four-syllable 
lines,  of  four  verses  each,  with  an  apostrophe  in  two 
four-syllable  lines. 

3.  The  chronology. 

4.  The  names  of  the  composer  and  calligraphist,  and 
of  the  bronze-founder. 

The  characters  in  vertical  lines  are  read  from  top  to 
bottom,  the  order  of  the  columns  being  from  right  to 
left.  There  are  in  all  117  characters. 

The  first  tablet  reads  : 

Lotus-Lily  Temple  (of)  Law-Grove  Mountain ;  Bell- 
inscription  (and)  Preface, 


NOTES,    AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       433 

;'  Although  there  had  been  of  old  a  bell  hung  in  the 
Temple  of  the  Lotus-Lily,  yet  being  of  small  dimen- 
sions its  note  was  quickly  exhausted,  and  no  volume 
of  melody  followed  (after  having  been  struck).  Where- 
upon, for  the  purpose  of  improving  upon  this  state  of 
affairs,  we  made  a  subscription,  and  collected  coin  to 
obtain  a  new  bell.  All  believers  in  the  doctrine,  gods 
as  well  as  devils,  contributed  freely.  Thus  the  enter- 
prise was  soon  consummated,  and  this  inscription  pre- 
pared, to  wit : 

"  '  The  most  exalted  Buddha  having  pitiful  compas- 
sion upon  the  people,  would,  by  means  of  this  bell,  in- 
stead of  words,  awaken  them  from  earthly  illusions, 
and  reveal  the  darkness  of  this  world. 

" '  Many  of  the  living  hearkening  to  its  voice,  and  mak- 
ing confession,  are  freed  from  the  bondage  of  their  sins, 
and  forever  released  from  their  disquieting  desires. 

"  '  How  great  is  (Buddha's)  merit !  Who  can  utter 
it  ?  Without  measure,  boundless  ! ' 

"  Eleventh  year  of  the  Era  of  the  Foundation  of 
Literature  (and  of  the  male  element)  Wood  (and  of  the 
zodiac  sign)  Dog ;  Autumn,  seventh  month,  fifteenth 
day  (A.D.  August  30,  1814). 

"  Composition  and  penmanship  by  Kameda  Koye- 
sen.  Cast  by  the  artist  Sugiwara  Kuninobu." 

(The  poem  in  unrhymed  metre.) 

Buddha  in  compassion  tender 
With  this  bell,  instead  of  words, 
Wakens  souls  from  life's  illusions, 
Lightens  this  world's  darkness  drear. 

Many  souls  its  sweet  tones  heeding, 
From  their  chains  of  sin  are  freed  ; 


4:34:  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

All  the  mind's  unrest  is  soothed, 
Sinful  yearnings  are  repressed. 

Oh  how  potent  is  his  merit, 
Without  bounds  in  all  the  worlds  ! 

34  Fuso  Mimi  Bukuro,  p.  129. 

35  M.  E.,  pp.  287-290,  513-514 ;  Perry's  Narrative, 
pp.  471,  472  ;    Our  Neighborhood,  pp.  119-124.     The 
following  epitaphs  are  gathered  from  various  sources  : 

"  This  stone  marks  the  remains  of  the  believer  who 
never  grows  old." 

"  The  believing  woman  Yu-ning,  Happy  was  the  day 
of  her  departure." 

"  Multitudes  fill  the  graves." 

"  Only  by  this  vehicle — the  coffin— can  we  enter 
Hades." 

"  As  the  floating  grass  is  blown  by  the  gentle  breeze, 
or  the  glancing  ripples  of  autumn  disappear  when  the 
sun  goes  down,  or  as  a  ship  returns  to  her  old  shore — 
so  is  life.  It  is  a  vapor,  a  morning-tide." 

1  'Buddha  himself  wishes  to  hear  the  name  of  the  de- 
ceased that  he  may  enter  life." 

"  He  who  has  left  humanity  is  now  perfected  by 
Buddha's  name,  as  the  withered  moss  by  the  dew." 

"  Life  is  like  a  candle  in  the  wind." 

"  The  wise  make  oar  halls  illustrious,  and  their 
monuments  endure  for  ages." 

"What  permanency  is  there  to  the  glory  of  the 
world? 

It  goes  from  the  sight  like  hoar-frost  in  the  sun." 

"  If  men  wish  to  enter  the  joys  of  heavenly  light, 

Let  them  smell  the  fragrance  of  the  law  of  Buddha." 

"'Whoever  wishes  to  have  his  merit  reach  even  to 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,  ILLUSTRATIONS      435 

the  abode  of  demons,  let  him,  with  us,  and  all  living, 
become  perfect  in  the  doctrine." 

36  Eev.  C.  B.  Hawarth  in  the  New  York  Independent, 
January  18,  1894. 

37  In  781  the  Buddhist  monk  Kei-shun  dedicated  a 
chapel  to  Jizo,  on  whom  he  conferred  the  epithet  of 
Sho-gun  or  general,  to  suit  the  warlike  tastes  of  the 
Japanese  people. — S.  and  H.,  p.  384.     So  also  Hachi- 
man  became  the  god  of  war  because  adopted  as  the 
patron  deity  of  the  Genji  warriors. — S.  and  H.,  p.  [70.] 

38  Corea,  the  Hermit  Nation,  p.  96. 

^Dixon's  Japan,  p.  41 ;  S.  and  H.,  Japan,  passim  ; 
Rein's  Japan  ;  Story  of  the  Nations,  Japan,  by  David 
Murray,  p.  201,  note ;  Dening's  life  of  Toyotomi 
Hideyoshi;  M.  E,  Chapters  XV.,  XVI.,  XX.,  XXIIL, 
XXIV. ;  Gazetteer  of  Echizen ;  Shiga's  History  of  Na- 
tions, Tokio,  1888,  pp.  115,  118;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol. 
VIII.,  pp.  94,  134,  143. 

40  T.  A.  S.    J.,  Vol.  VIII.,  Hideyoshi  and  the  Sat- 
suma  Clan  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  by  J.  H.   Gub- 
bins;   The  Times  of  Taiko,  by  E.  Brinkley,  in   The 
Japan  Times. 

41  The  Copy  of  the  Buddhist  Tripitaka,  or  Northern 
Collection,  made  by  order  of  the  Emperor,  "Wan-Li,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  when  the  Chinese  capital  (King) 
was  changed  from  the  South  (Nan)  to  the  North  (Pe), 
was  reproduced  in  Japan  in  1679,  and  again  in  1681- 
83,  and  in  over  two  thousand  volumes,  making  a  pile  a 
hundred  feet  high,  was  presented  by  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment,   through   the    Junior    Prime   Minister,    Mr. 
Tomomi  Iwakura,  to  the  Library  of  the  India   Office. 
See  Samuel  Seal's  The  Buddhist  Tripitaka,  as  it  is 
known  in  China  and  Japan,  A  Catalogue  and  Compen- 


436  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

dious  Keport,  London,  1876.  The  library  has  been  re- 
arranged by  Mr.  Bunyin  Nanjio,  who  has  published 
the  result  of  his  labors,  with  Sanskrit  equivalents  of  the 
titles  and  with  notes  of  the  highest  value. 

42  "  Neither  country  (China  or  Japan)  has  had  the 
independence  and  mental  force  to  produce  a  literature 
of  its  own,  and  to  add  anything  but  a  chapter  of  decay 
to  the  history  of  this  religion." — Professor  William  D. 
Whitney,  in  review  of  Anecdota  Oxoniensia,  Buddhist 
Texts  from  Japan,  in  The  Nation,  No.  875. 

43  Education  in   Japan,    A   series   of  papers  by  the 
writer,  printed  in  The  Japan  Mail  of  1873-74,  and  re- 
printed in  the  educational  journals  of  the  United  States. 
A  digest  of  these  papers  is  given  in  the  appendix  of  F. 
O.    Adams's    History  of    Japan ;  Life   of    Sir  Harry 
Parkes,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  305,  306. 

44  Japan  :  in  Literature,  Folk-Lore,  and  Art,  p.  77. 

45  Japanese  Education  at   the  Philadelphia  Exposi- 
tion, New  York,  1876. 

46  See  Japanese  Literature,  by  E.  M.  Satow,  in  The 
American  Cyclopaedia. 

47  The  word  bonze  (Japanese  bon-so  or  ~bozu,  Chinese 
fan-sung)  means  an  ordinary  member  of  the  congrega- 
tion, just  as  the  Japanese  term  bon-yo  or  bon-zoku  means 
common  people  or  the  ordinary  folks.     The  word  came 
into  European  use  from  the  Portuguese  missionaries, 
who  heard  the  Japanese  thus  pronounce  the  Chinese 
termybtn,  which,  as  bon,  is  applied  to  anything  in  the 
mass  not  out  of  the  common. 

48  See  On  the  Early  History  of  Printing  in  Japan,  by 
E.   M.  Satow,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  X.,   Part  I.,  p.  48 ; 
Part  II.,  p.  252. 

49  Japanese  mediaeval  monastery  life  has  been  ably 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       437 

pictured  in  English  fiction  by  a  scholar  of  imagination 
and  literary  power,  withal  a  military  critic  and  a  vet- 
eran in  Japanese  lore.  "  The  Times  of  Taiko,"  in  the 
defunct  Japanese  Times  (1878),  deserves  reprint  as  a 
book,  being  founded  on  Japanese  historical  and  de- 
scriptive works.  In  Mr.  Edward's  Greey's  A  Captive 
of  Love,  Boston,  1886,  the  idea  of  ingwa  (the  effects 
in  this  life  of  the  actions  in  a  former  state  of  exist- 
ence), is  illustrated.  See  also  S.  and  H.,  p.  29 ;  T.  J., 
p.  360. 

50  It  is  curious  that  while  the  anti-Christian  polemics 
of   the   Japanese   Buddhists  have  used  the  words  of 
Jesus,  "  I  came  to  send  not  peace  but  a  sword,"  Matt. 
x.    34,  and    "  If  any   man     ....     hate    not   his 
father  and  mother,"   etc.,  Luke   xiv.  26,  as  a  brand- 
ing iron  with  which  to  stamp  the  religion  of  Jesus  as 
gross  immorality  and  dangerous  to  the  state,  they  jus- 
tify Gautama  in  his  "  renunciation  "  of  marital  and  pa- 
ternal duties. 

51  See  Public  Charity  in  Japan,  Japan  Mail,  1893 ; 
and  The  Annual  (Appleton's)  Cyclopaedia  for  1893. 

52 1  have  some  good  reasons  for  making  this  sugges- 
tion. Yokoi  Heishiro  had  dwelt  for  some  time  in 
Fukui,  a  few  rods  away  from  the  house  in  which  I 
lived,  and  the  ideas  he  promulgated  among  the 
Echizen  clansmen  in  his  lectures  on  Confucianism, 
were  not  only  Christian  in  spirit  but,  by  their  own 
statement,  these  ideas  could  not  be  found  in  the  texts 
of  the  Chinese  sage  or  of  his  commentators.  Although 
the  volume  (edited  by  his  son,  Kev.  J.  F.  Yokoi)  of 
his  Life  and  Letters  shows  him  to  have  been  an  intense 
and  at  times  almost  bigoted  Confucianist,  he,  in  one 
of  his  later  letters,  prophesied  that  when  Christianity 


438  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

should  be  taught  by  the  missionaries,  it  would  win 
the  hearts  of  the  young  men  of  Japan.  See  also 
Satow's  Kinse  Shiriaku,  p.  133 ;  Adams's  History  of 
Japan ;  and  in  fiction,  see  Honda  The  Samurai,  p.  242, 
and  succeeding  chapters. 

53  In   the   colorless   and   unsentimental  language  of 
government  publications,  the  Japanese  edict  of  eman- 
cipation,  issued  to  the  local  authorities  in  October, 
1871,  ran  as  follows :     "  The  designations  of  eta  and 
hinin  are  abolished.     Those  who  bore  them  are  to  be 
added  to  the  general  registers  of  the  population  and 
their  social  position  and  methods  of  gaining  a  livelihood 
are  to   be  identical  with  the  rest  of  the  people.     As 
they  have  been  entitled  to  immunity  from  the  land  tax 
and  other  burdens  of  immemorial  custom,  you  will  in- 
quire  how   this  may  be  reformed  and  report  to  the 
Board  of  Finance."     (Signed)  Council  of  State. 

54  In  English  fiction,  see  The  Eta  Maiden  and  the 
Hatamoto,  in  Mitford's  Tales  of  Old  Japan,  Vol.  I.,  pp. 
210-245.     Discussions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Eta  are 
to  be  found  in  Adams's  History  of  Japan,  Yol.  I.,  p.  77  ; 
M.  E.,  index;  T.  J.,  p.  147 ;  S.  and  H.,  p.  36 ;  Honda 
the  Samurai,  pp.   246,   247;  Mitford's   Tales  of   Old 
Japan,  Yol.  I.,  pp.  210-245.     The  literature  concern- 
ing the   Ainos   is   already   voluminous.     See   Cham- 
berlain's Aino  Studies,  with  bibliography ;   and  Kev. 
John  Batchelor's  Ainu  Grammar,  published  by  The 
Imperial  University  of  Tokio  ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yols.  X., 
XI.,  XVI.,  XVIII.,  XX. ;     The  Ainu  of  Japan,  New 
York,  1892,  by  J.  Batchelor  (who  has  also  translated 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  portions  of  the  Bible 
into  the  Ainu  tongue) ;  M.  E.,  Chap.  II.  ;  T.  A.  S.  J.5 
Vol.  X.,  and  following  volumes ;  Unbeaten  Tracks  in 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       439 

Japan,  Vol.  II. ;  Life  with  Trans-Siberian  Savages,  Lon- 
don, 1893. 

55  "  Then  the  venerable  Sariputra  said  to  that  daugh- 
ter of  Sagara,  the  Naga-king  :  '  Thou  hast  conceived 
the  idea  of  enlightenment,  young  lady  of  good  family, 
without  sliding  back,  and  art  gifted  with  immense  wis- 
dom, but  supreme,  perfect  enlightenment  is  not  easily 
won.  It  may  happen,  sister,  that  a  woman  displays 
an  unflagging  energy,  performs  good  works  for  many 
thousands  of  Aeons,  and  fulfils  the  six  perfect  virtues 
(Paramitas),  but  as  yet  there  is  no  example  of  her  hav- 
ing reached  Buddhaship,  and  that  because  a  woman 
cannot  occupy  the  five  ranks,  viz.,  1,  the  rank  of  Brah- 
ma ;  2,  the  rank  of  Indra ;  3,  the  rank  of  a  chief  guar- 
dian of  the  four  quarters  ;  4,  the  rank  of  Kakravartin ; 
5,  the  rank  of  a  Bodhisattva  incapable  of  sliding  back," 
Saddharma  Pundarika,  Kern's  Translation,  p.  252. 

56 "  Chiu-jo-hime  was  the  first  Japanese  nun,  and 
the  only  woman  who  is  commemorated  by  an  idol. 
She  extracted  the  fibres  of  the  lotus  root,  and  wove 
them  with  silk  to  make  tapestry  for  altars."  Fuso 
Mimi  Bukuro,  p.  128.  Her  romantic  and  marvellous 
story  is  given  in  S.  and  H.,  p.  397.  "  The  practice  of 
giving  ranks  to  women  was  commenced  by  Jito  Tenno 
(an  empress,  690-705)."  Many  women  shaved  their 
heads  and  became  nuns  "  on  becoming  widows,  as 
well  as  on  being  forsaken  by,  or  after  leaving  their 
husbands.  Others  were  orphans."  One  of  the  most 
famous  nuns  (on  account  of  her  rank)  was  the  Nii  no 
Ama,  widow  of  Kiyomori  and  grandmother  of  the  Em- 
peror Antoku,  who  were  both  drowned  near  Shimono- 
seki,  in  the  great  naval  battle  of  1185  A.D.  Adams's 
History  of  Japan,  Vol.  I.,  p.  37 ;  M.  E.,  p.  137. 


440  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

57  M.  E.,  p.  213  ;  Japanese  Women,  World's  Colum- 
bian Exhibition,  Chicago,  1893,  Chap.  III. 

58  There  is  no  passage  in  the  original  Greek  texts,  or 
in  the  Revised  Version  of  the  New  Testament  which 
ascribes  wings  to  the  aggelos,  or  angel.     In  Rev.  xii. 
14,  a  woman  is  "given  two  wings  of  a  great  eagle." 

59  Japanese  Women  in  Politics,  Chap.  I.,  Japanese 
Women,  Chicago,  1893  ;  Japanese  Girls  and  Women, 
Chapters  VI.  and  VII. 

^Bakin's  novels  are  dominated  by  this  idea,  while 
also  preaching  in  fiction  strict  Confucianism.  See  A 
Captive  of  Love,  by  Edward  Greey. 

61 "  Fate  is  one  of  the  great  words  of  the  East. 
Japan's  language  is  loaded  and  overloaded  with  it.  Pa- 
rents are  forever  saying  before  their  children,  '  There's 
no  help  for  it.'  I  once  remarked  to  a  school-teacher, 
'Of  course  you  love  to  teach  children.'  His  quick 
reply  was,  '  Of  course  I  don't.  I  do  it  merely  because 
there  is  no  help  for  it.'  Moralists  here  deplore  the 
prosperity  of  the  houses  of  ill-fame  and  then  add  with 
a  sigh,  '  There's  no  help  for  it.'  All  society  reverber- 
ates with  this  phrase  with  reference  to  questions  that 
need  the  application  of  moral  power,  will  power.'' 
— J.  H.  De  Forest. 

"  I  do  not  say  there  is  no  will  power  in  the  East,  for 
there  is.  Nor  do  I  say  there  is  no  weak  yielding  to 
fate  in  lands  that  have  the  doctrine  of  the  Creator,  for 
there  is.  But,  putting  the  East  and  West  side  by  side, 
one  need  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  the  reason  the  will 
power  of  the  East  is  weak  cannot  be  fully  explained  by 
any  mere  doctrine  of  environment,  but  must  also  have 
some  vital  connection  with  the  fact  that  the  idea  of  a 
personal  almighty  Creator  has  for  long  ages  been 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       441 

wanting.  And  one  reason  why  western  nations  have  an 
aggressive  character  that  ventures  bold  things  and 
tends  to  defy  difficulties  cannot  be  wholly  laid  to  en- 
vironment but  must  have  something  to  do  with  the  fact 
that  leads  millions  daily  reverently  to  say  '  I  believe  in 
the  Almighty  Father,  Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth.' " 
— J.  H.  De  Forest. 

STATISTICS  OF   BUDDHISM  IN  JAPAN. 

(From  the  official  "Eesume  Statistique  del'Empire  du  Japon," 
Tokio,  1894.) 

In  1891  there  were  71,859  temples  within  city  or 
town  limits,  and  35,959  in  the  rural  districts,  or 
117,718  in  all,  under  the  charges  of  51,791  principal 
priests  and  720  principal  priestesses,  or  52,511  in  all. 

The  number  of  temples,  classified  by  sects,  were  as 
follows :  Tendai,  with  3  sub  -  sects,  4,808  ;  Shingon, 
with  2  sub-sects,  12,821,  of  which  45  belonged  to  the 
Hosso  shu  ;  Jo-do,  with  2  sub-sects,  8,323,  of  which  21 
were  of  the  Ke-gon  shu ;  Zen,  with  3  sub-sects,  20,882, 
of  which  6,146  were  of  the  Kin-Zai  shu ;  14,072  of  the 
So-do  shu,  and  604  of  the  O-baku  shu ;  Shin,  with  10 
sub-sects,  19,146 ;  Nichiren,  with  7  sub-sects,  5,066  ; 
Ji  shu,  515;  Yu-dzii  Nembutsu,  358;  total,  38  sects 
and  71,859  temples. 

The  official  reports  required  by  the  government  from 
the  various  sects,  show  that  there  are  38  administrative 
heads  of  sects  ;  52,638  priest-preachers  and  44,123  or- 
dinary priests  or  monks ;  and  8,668  male  and  328 
female,  or  a  total  of  8,996,  students  for  the  grade  of 
monk  or  nun.  In  comparison  with  1886,  the  number 
of  priest  -  preachers  was  39,261,  ordinary  priests  38,- 
189  ;  male  students,  21,966  ;  female  students,  642. 


442  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

CHAPTEE   XI 

ROMAN  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY. 

1  See  for  a  fine  example  of  this,  Mr.  C.  Meriweth- 
er's  Life  of  Date  Masamune,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  XXI., 
pp.  3-106.     See  also  The  Christianity  of  Early  Japan, 
by  Koji  Inaba,  in  The  Japan  Evangelist,  Yokohama, 
1893-94 ;  Mr.  E.  Satow's  papers  in  T.  A.  S.  J. 

2  See  M.  E.,  p.  280 ;  Eein's  Japan,  p.  312 ;  Shige- 
taka  Shiga's  History  of  Nations,  p.  139,  quoting  from 
M.  E.  (p.  258). 

3  M.  E.,  195. 

4  The  Japan  Mail  of  April  and  May,  1894,  contains  a 
translation  from  the  Japanese,  with  but  little  new  mat- 
ter, however,  of  a  work  entitled  Paul  Anjiro. 

5  The    "Firando"   of   the   old   books.     See   Cock's 
Diary.     It  is  difficult  at  first  to  recognize  the  Japan- 
ese originals  of  some  of  the  names  which  figure  in  the 
writings  of  Charlevoix,  Leon  Pages,  and  the  European 
missionaries,  owing  to  their  use  of  local  pronunciation, 
and  their  spelling,  which  seems  peculiar.     One  of  the 
brilliant  identifications  of  Mr.  Ernest  Satow,  now  H. 
B.  M.  Minister  at  Tangier,  is  that  of  Kuroda  in  the 
"  Kondera"  of  the  Jesuits. 

6  See  Mr.  E.  M.  Satow's  Vicissitudes  of  the  Church 
at  Yamaguchi.     T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  VII.,  pp.  131-156. 

7  Nobunaga  was  Nai  Dai  Jin,  Inner  (Junior)  Prime 
Minister,  one   in   the   triple  premiership,  peculiar  to 
Korea  and  Old  Japan,  but  was  never  Shogun,  as  some 
foreign  writers  have  supposed. 

8  See  The  Jesuit  Mission   Press   in  Japan,   by   E. 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       443 

Satow,  1591-1610  (privately  printed,  London,  1888). 
Eeview  of  the  same  by  B.  H.  Chamberlain,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Yol.  XVII.,  p.  91. 

9Histoire  de  1'Eglise,  Yol.  I.,  p.  490;  Eein,  p.  277. 
Takayama  is  spoken  of  in  the  Jesuit  Kecords  as  Justo 
Ucondono.  A  curious  book  entitled  Justo  Ucon- 
dono,  Prince  of  Japan,  in  which  the  writer,  who  is 
"  less  attentive  to  points  of  style  than  to  matters  of 
faith,"  labors  to  show  that  "the  Bible  alone"  is 
"found  wanting,"  and  only  the  "Teaching  Church  "  is 
worthy  of  trust,  was  published  in  Baltimore,  in  1854. 

10  How  Hideyoshi    made   use  of    the  Shin   sect   of 
Buddhists  to  betray  the  Satsuma  clansmen  is  graphi- 
cally told  in  Mr.  J.  H.  Gubbin's  paper,  Hideyoshi  and 
the  Satsuma  Clan,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  VIII,  pp.  124-128, 
143. 

11  Corea  the  Hermit  Nation,  Chaps.  XIL-XXL,  pp. 
121-123 ;  Mr.  W.  G.  Aston's  Hideyoshi's  Invasion  of 
Korea,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  VI.,  p.  227^;    IX.,  pp.  87,  213 ; 
XI.,  p.  117  ;  Rev.  G.  H.  Jones's  The  Japanese  Inva- 
sion, The  Korean  Repository,  Seoul,  1892. 

12  Brave  Little  Holland  and  What  She  Taught  Us, 
Boston,  1893,  p.  247. 

13  See    picture    and    description   of  this   temple — 
"fairly  typical   of  Japanese   Buddhist  architecture," 
Chamberlain's   Handbook  for  Japan,   p.   26 ;   G.   A. 
Cobbold's,  Religion  in  Japan,  London,  1894,  p.  72. 

14  T.  A.  S.  J.,  see  Yol.  VI.,  pp.  46-51,  for  the  text  of 
the  edicts. 

15  M.  E.,  p.  262,  Chamberlain's  Handbook  for  Japan, 
p.  59. 

16  The  Origin  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Rivalry  in 
Japan,  by  E.  M.  Satow,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVIII.,  p.  133. 


444  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

17  See  Chapter  VIII.,  W.  G.  Dixon's  Gleanings  from 
Japan. 

18  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  VI.,  pp.  48-50. 

19  In  the  inscription  upon  the  great  bell,  at  the  tem- 
ple  containing    the   image   of    Dai   Butsu   or   Great 
Buddha,  reared  by  Hideyori  and  his  mother,  one  sen- 
tence contained   the    phrase  Kokka  anko,  ka  and   ko 
being  Chinese  for  lye  and  yasu,  which  the  Yedo  ruler 
professed  to  believe   mockery.     In  another  sentence, 
"  On  the  East  it  welcomes  the  bright  moon,  and  on  the 
West  bids  farewell  to  the  setting  sun,"  lyeyasu  dis- 
covered treason.     He    considered  himself   the  rising 
sun,  and  Hideyori  the  setting  moon. — Chamberlain's 
Hand-book  for  Japan,  p.  300. 

20 1  have  found  the  Astor  Library  in  New  York  es- 
pecially rich  in  works  of  this  sort. 

21  Nitobe's  United  States  and  Japan,  p.  13,  note. 

22  This  insurrection  has  received  literary  treatment 
at  the  hands  of  the  Japanese  in  Shimabara,  translated 
in  The  Far  East  for  1872 ;  Woolley's  Historical  Notes 
on  Nagasaki,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  IX.,  p.  125  ;  Koecke- 
bakker  and  the  Arima  Rebellion,   by  Dr.   A.  J.   C. 
Geerts,   T.    A.  S.  J.,   Vol.   XI.,  51 ;    Inscriptions  on 
Shimabara  and  Amakusa,  by  Henry  Stout,  T.  A.  S.  J., 
Vol.  VII.,  p.  185. 

23  "  Persecution  extirpated  Christianity  from  Japan." 
—History  of  Eationalism,  Vol.  II.,  p.  15. 

24  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  VI.,  Part  I.,  p.  62 ;  M.  E.  pp.  531, 
573. 

^Political,  despite  the  attempt  of  many  earnest  mem- 
bers of  the  order  to  check  this  tendency  to  intermed- 
dle in  politics ;  see  Dr.  Murray's  Japan,  p.  245,  note, 
246. 


NOTES,  AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       445 

26  See  abundant  illustration  in  Leon  Pages'  Histoire 
de  la  Keligion  Chretienne  en  Japon,  a  book  which  the 
author  read  while  in  Japan  amid  the  scenes  described. 

*  The  Japan  Evangelist,  Vol.  L,  No.  2,  p.  96. 


CHAPTEE   XII 

TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SILENCE 

1  See  Diary  of  Eichard  Cocks,  and  Introduction  by 
E.  M.  Thompson,  Hakluyt  Publications,  1883. 

2  For  the  extent  of  Japanese  influence  abroad,  see 
M.  E.,  p.  246  ;  Eein,  Nitobe,  and  Hildreth ;  Modem 
Japanese  Adventurers,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  YIL,  p.  191 ; 
The  Intercourse  between  Japan  and  Siam  in  the  Sev- 
enteenth Century,  by  E.  M.  Satow,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol. 
XIII.,   p.   139 ;    Yoyage  of    the    Dutch    Ship   Grol, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  XI.,  p.  180. 

3  The  United  States  and  Japan,  p.  16. 

4  See   Professor  J.    H.   Wigmore's  elaborate   work, 
Materials  for  the  Study  of  Private  Law  in  Old  Japan, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Tokio,  1892. 

5  See  the  Legacy  of  lyeyasu,  by  John  Frederic  Low- 
der,  Yokohama,  1874,  with  criticisms  and  discussions 
by  E.  M.  Satow  and  others  in  the  Japan  Mail ;  Dix- 
on's  Japan,  Chapter  VII. ;  Professor  AY.  E.  Grigsby, 
in  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol.  III.,  Part  II.,  p.  131,  gives  another 
version,  with  analysis,  notes,  and  comments ;  Eein's 
Japan,  pp.  314,  315. 

6  Old  Japan  in  the  days  of  its  inclusiveness  was  a 
secret  society  on  a  vast  scale,  with  every  variety  and 
degree  of  selfishness,  mystery,  secrecy,  close-corpora- 


446  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

tionism,  and  tomfoolery.     See  article  Esotericism  in 
T.  J.,  p.  143. 

7  Since  the  abolition  of  feudalism,  with  the  increase 
of  the  means  of  transportation,  the  larger  freedom,  and, 
at  many  points,  improved  morality,  the  population  of 
Japan  shows  an  unprecedented  rate  of  increase.     The 
census  taken  in  1744  gave,  as  the  total  number  of  souls 
in  the  empire,  26,080,000  (E.  J.  Eeed's  Japan,  Vol.  L, 
p.  236)  ;  that  of  1872,  33,110,825 ;  that  of  1892,  41,- 
089,940,  showing  a  greater  increase  during  the  past 
twenty  years  than  in  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
years  previous.     See  Resume  Statistique  de  1'Empire 
du  Japon,  Tokid,  1894 ;  Professor  Garrett  Droppers' 
paper  on  The  Population   of  Japan  during  the  Toku- 
gawa  Period,  read  June  27th,  1894 ;  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Yol. 
XXII. 

8  For  the  notable  instance  of  Pere  Sidotti,  see  M. 
E.,  p.  63  ;  Sei  Yo  Ki  Bun,  by  S.  E.  Brown,  D.D.,  a 
translation  of  Arai  Hakuseki's  narrative,  Yedo,  1710, 
T.   N.    C.   A.  S. ;  Capture  and  Captivity  of  Pere  Si- 
dotti, T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  IX.,  p.  156 ;  Christian  Valley, 
T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XVI.,  p.  207. 

9  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  L,  p.  78,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  323. 

10  See  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  Boston,  1887. 

11  See  the  author's  Townsend  Harris-,  First  Ameri- 
can Minister  to  Japan,  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  August, 
1891. 

12  See  Honda  the  Samurai,  Boston,  1890 ;  Nitobe's 
United  States  and  Japan ;  The  Japan   Mail  passim  ; 
Dr.  G.  F.  Verbeck's  History  of  Protestant  Missions  in 
Japan,   Yokohama,    1883  ;  Dr.    George   Wm.   Knox's 
papers  on  Japanese  Philosophy,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XX., 
p.  158,  etc.     Recent  Japanese  literature,  of  which  the 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       447 

writer  has  a  small  shelfful,  biographies,  biographical 
dictionaries,  the  histories  of  New  Japan,  Life  of  Yo- 
shida  Shoin,  and  recent  issues  of  The  Nation's  Friend 
(Kokumin  no  Tomo),  are  very  rich  on  this  fascinating 
subject. 

13  A  typical  instance  was  that  of  Bin  Shihei,  born 
1737,  author  of  San  Koku  Tsu  Ran  to  Setsu,  translated 
into  French  by  Klaproth,  Paris,   1832.     Kin  learned 
much  from  the  Dutch  and  Prussians,  and  wrote  books 
which  had  a  great   sale.     He   was   cast  into   prison, 
whence  he  never  emerged.     The  (wooden)  plates  of  his 
publications  were  confiscated  and  destroyed.     In  1876, 
the  Mikado  visited  his  grave  in  Sendai,  and  ordered  a 
monument   erected   to   the   honor  of  this   far-seeing 
patriot. 

14  Eein,  pp.  336,  337 

15  Eein,  p.  339 ;  The  Early  Study  of  Dutch  in  Japan, 
by  K.  Mitsukuri,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  V.,  p.  209 ;  History 
of  the  Progress  of  Medicine  in  Japan,  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol. 
XII.,  p.  245 ;  Vijf  Jaren  in  Japan,  J.  L.  C.  Pompe 
van  Meerdervoort,  2d  Ed.,  Leyden,  1868. 

16  Honda  the   Samurai,  pp.  249-251;   Nitobe,  25- 
27. 

17  The  Tokugawa  Princes  of  Mito,  by  Professor  E. 
W.  Clement,  T.  A.  S.  J,  Vol.  XVIII.,  p.  14;  Nitobe's 
United  States  and  Japan,  p.  25,  note. 

18  M.  E.  (6  Ed.),  p.  608  ;  Adams's  History  of  Japan, 
Vol.  II.,  p.  171. 

19  See  the  text  of  the  anti-Christian  edicts,  M.  E.,  p. 
369. 

20  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  17. 

21  T.  A.  S.  J.,  Vol.  IX,  p.  134. 

22  Tales  of  Old  Japan,  Vol.  II.,  p.  125 ;  A  Japanese 


448  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Buddhist  Preacher,  by  Professor  M.  K.  Shimomura,  in 
the  New  York  Independent ;  other  sermons  have  been 
printed  in  The  Japan  Mail ;  Kino  Dowa,  two  sermons 
and  vocabulary,  has  been  edited  by  Eev.  C.  S.  Eby, 
Yokohama. 

23  On  Sunday,  November  29,  1857,  Mr.  Harris,  rest- 
ing at  Kawasaki,  over  Sunday,  on  his  way  to  Yedo  and 
audience  of  the   Shogun,  having  Mr.  Heusken  as  his 
audience  and  fellow-worshipper,  read  service  from  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

24  See  a  paper  written  by  the  author  and  read  at  the 
World's  Columbian  Exhibition  Congress  of  Missions, 
Chicago,  September,  1893,  on  The  Citizen  Eights  of 
Missionaries. 

25  This  embassy  was  planned  and  first  proposed  to 
the  Junior  premier,  Tomomi  Iwakura,  and  the  route 
arranged  by  the  Eev.  Guido  F.  Verbesk,  then  Presi- 
dent  of  the   Imperial  University.     One   half  of  the 
members  of  the  embassy  had  been  Dr.  Verbeck's  pu- 
pils at  Nagasaki. 

26  A  somewhat   voluminous   native  Japanese  litera- 
ture is  the  result  of  the  various  embassies  and  indi- 
vidual pilgrimages  abroad,  since  1860.     Immeasurably 
superior  to  all  other  publications,  in  the  practical  in- 
fluence over  his  fellow-countrymen,  is  the  Seiyo  Jijo 
(The  Condition  of  Western  Countries)  by  Fukuzawa, 
author,  educator,  editor,  decliner  of  numerously  proffered 
political  offices,  and  "  the  intellectual  father  of  one-half 
of  the  young  men  who  now  fill  the  middle  and  lower 
posts  in  the  government  of  Japan."     For  the  foreign 
side,  see  The  Japanese  in  America,  by  Charles  Lan- 
man,  New  York,  1872,  and  in  The  Life  of  Sir  Harry 
Parkes,  London,  1894,  and  for  an  amusing  piece  o£ 


NOTES,   AUTHORITIES,   ILLUSTRATIONS       449 

literary  ventriloquism,  Japanese  Letters,  Eastern  Im- 
pressions of  Western  Men  and  Manners,  London  and 
New  York,  1891. 

See  History  of  Protestant  Missions  in  Japan,  by  G. 
F.  Yerbeck,  Yokohama,  1893. 
29 


INDEX 


ABBESS,  318. 

Abbots,  313. 

Abdication,  214. 

Aborigines,  9,  38,  43,  77-79, 177. 

Adams,  Will,  334,  340. 

Adi-Buddha,  174, 

Adoption,  133, 136. 

Adultery,  149. 

Aidzu,  119. 

Ainos,  2,  9,  16,  73,  177,  317,  379. 

Akamatsu,  Rev.  Renjo,  435. 

Akechi,  333. 

Alphabets,  199,  200. 

Altaic,  39,  389. 

Amalgam  of  religions,  11,  13. 

Amaterasu,  see  Sun-goddess. 

American  relations,  11,  12,  157. 

Amidaism,  376,  302. 

Anabaptists,  162. 

Analects,  128. 

Ancestral  worship,  106. 

Anderson,  Dr.  Wm.,  435. 

Angels,  304. 

Animism,  15-17. 

Anjiro,  339. 

Apostolical  succession,  262. 

Arabian  Nights,  193,  301. 

Arai  Hakuseki,  450. 

Architecture,  83,  84,  310,  298-300. 

Art,  68,  114,  195-197,  397,  298,  SOS- 
SOS,  314,  356. 

Aryan  Conquest  of  India,  44,  156, 
157,  177,  307. 

Asanga,  175,  205. 

Assassination,  367. 

Asoka,  165. 


Aston,  Mr.  Wm.  G.,  39,  360,  386, 

387. 

Atheism,  163,  164. 
Atkinson,  Rev.  J.  L.,  410. 
Avalokitesvsra,  170,  171, 179. 
Avatars,  301,  308,  321,  347,  269,  295. 

BABISM,  166. 

Bakin,  444. 

Bangor  Theological  Seminary,  378. 

Batchelor,  Rev.  John,  317. 

Beal,  Rev.  Samuel,  8. 

Beauty,  207. 

Beggars,  208. 

Bells,  307,  308. 

Benten,  204,  207,  218. 

Bible,  27,  104,  364,  366. 

Binzuru,  337. 

Birth,  84. 

Bishamon,  318. 

Bodhidharma,  see  Daruma. 

Bodhisattva,  169,  204,  334. 

Bonzes,  310. 

Bosatsu,  170,  304 ;  see  Bodhisattva. 

Brahma,  347. 

Brahmanism,  163,  185,  186,  318. 

Brothers,  135,  136. 

Brown,  Rev.  S.  R.,  450. 

Buddha   Amida,  see  Amidaism. 

the  Buddha,  101,  103,  161,  163. 

Gautama,  155,  161-164. 

Shakyamuni,  160. 

Siddartha,  410. 

Tathagata,  359. 

Tathata,  343. 
Bunyiu  Nanjio,  Rev.,  331,  425. 


452 


INDEX 


Buddhism,  42,  74,  76,  106,  133,  136, 
137,  140,  185,  186,  227,  231. 

Buddhist,  165,  166,  183,  214,  229, 
252. 

CANNIBALISM,  74. 

Canon,  Chinese,  103  ;    Shinto,  39- 

41. 

Capitals  of  Japan,  182,  183,  296. 
Celibacy,  272. 
Cemeteries,  308. 
Chair  of  Contemplation,  252. 
Chamberlain,  Prof.  B.  Hall,  39,  324, 

388. 

Chastity,  68,  124,  149,  320. 
Cheng  Brothers,  138,  139. 
China,  134,  199,  215,  328,  355. 
Chinese,  82,  134;  Buddhism,  232. 
Christianity  and  Buddhism,  166. 183, 

185,  187,  195,  217,  218,  265,  270, 

300-302,  306,  315,  319. 
Chronology,  41,  370,  387. 
Chu  Hi,  11,  108,  139,  143,  144,  356. 
Cleanliness,  84,  97. 
Clement,  Prof.  E.  M.,  407. 
Cobra-de-capello,  21. 
Cocks,  Mr.  Richard,  380. 
Columbus,  328. 
Comparative  religion,  4-6. 
Confucius,  100-106. 
Confucianism,  74,  107,  213. 
Concubinage,  149. 
Constitution  of  1889,  96,  122 
Corea,  see  Korea. 
Courtship,  124. 
Creator,  145,  285. 
Cremation,  182. 
Crucifixion,  115,  368. 

DAI  BUTSU,  203. 

Daikoku,  218. 

Dai  Mio  Jin,  190,  204,  206,  220. 

Daruma,  186,  208,  254. 

Davids,  T.  Rhys,  155,  172. 

Death,  84. 


De  Brosses,  23. 
!  De  Forest,  Rev.  J.  H.,  226. 
1  Demoniacal  possession,  281. 

Deshima,  354,  358,  362-365. 

Dharari,  199. 

Dharma,  see  Daruma,  186. 

Dhyana  Buddhas  and  Sect,  172,  252, 
254. 

Diet,  293,  294. 

Divorce,  125, 149. 

Do-sen,  236. 

Do-sho,  181. 

Dragon,  20,  21,  74,  115,  198,  242. 

Dutch,  90,  336,  340,  353,  354,  358, 
360,  362,  363-365,  366. 

Dutt,  Mr.  Romesh  Chunder,  161. 

EBISU,  218. 

Ecclesiastes,  214. 

Echizen,  312. 

Edicts  against  Christianity,  335, 336, 

342. 

Edkins,  Dr.  J.,249. 
Education,  313,  320. 
Embassy  round  the  world,  373. 
Emperor,  148. 
Emura,  Rev.  Shu-zan,  232. 
England,  37. 

Eta,  115,  150,  275,  316,  317,  367. 
Ethics,  92,  94. 

Euhemerus,  192,  193,  197,  201. 
Eurasians,  344. 
Evil,  58,  78. 
Evolution,  62. 
Ezekiel,  36. 
Ezra,  102. 

FAMILY  Life,  122,  125-127. 
Female  divinities,  66,  305,  319. 
Fetichism,  22-27. 
Feudalism,  10,  108-110. 
Filial  piety,  123,  149,  213. 
Fire-drill,  55,  56. 
Fire,  God  of,  53. 
Fire-myths,  53. 


INDEX 


453 


Five  Relations,  105,  114,  148-150, 

151,  152. 
Flags,  26. 
Flood,  53. 
Flowers,  58. 

Forty-seven  Ronins,  118,  119. 
Franciscans,  336,  337. 
Friends,  127. 
Fuji  Mountain,  400. 
Fujishima,  Rev.  Ryauon,  231. 
Fukuda,  Rev.  Gyo-kai,  425. 
Fukui,  23. 
Fuku-roku-jin,  218. 

GARDENS,  237,  294,  295. 

Gautama,  158,  161,  164. 

Genji  Monogatari,  149. 

Genjo,  181,  232,  233,  238,  239. 

Germanic  nations,  10,  44. 

Ghosts,  206. 

Giyoku,  183. 

Gnostics,  193,  195. 

God-possession,  201. 

Gold,  184,  196,  210,  291. 

Golden  Rule,  128. 

Gongen,  204,  205,  220. 

Goro,  Mr.  T.,  7,  384. 

Graveyards,  308,  368. 

Greater  Vehicle,  165,  170,  240,  244. 

Gubbins,  Mr.  J.  H.,  403,  447. 

HACHIMAN,  204. 

Hades,  53,  64. 

Hara-kiri,  112,  121,  339. 

Harris,  Mr.  Townsend,  145,  352,  360, 

370,  371. 
Hayashi,  129. 
Heathen,  13,  30. 
Heaven,  62,  63,  70,  81,  105,  112,  118, 

144. 

Hepburn,  Dr.  J.  C.,372. 
Hideyori,  340,  342. 
Hideyoshi,  313,  333,  338. 
Hindu  history,  156. 
Hi-nin,  115,  150. 


Hinayana,  165,   167,   169,   228,  232, 
238. 

Hiouen  Thsang,  see  Genjo. 

Hiraii,  2. 

Hirata,  86. 

History  of  China,  intellectual,  137. 
of  Japan,  intellectual,  230. 
of  Japan,  political,  10,  37,  44,  219, 
of  Japan,  religious,  227,  228. 

Hitomaro,  60. 

Hiycisan,  16,  297. 

Hodge,  102. 

Hodgson,  Mr.  Brian  H.,  411,  414. 

Hokke-Kio,  see  Saddharma  Punda- 
rika. 

Hokusai,  314. 

Holland,  338. 

Honen,  261,  264. 

Ho-o,  184,  237. 

Hospitals,  216,  315. 

Hosso-shu,  238,  239. 

Hotei,  218. 

Hotoke,  202,  269. 

IDOLS,  175,  207,  216. 

Idzumo,  44,  65. 

Ikko,  273, 

Inari,  190. 

Indra,  163,  247. 

Ingwa,  217,  302,  321 ;  see  Karma. 

Inquisition,  347,  348,  368. 

Insurance  by  fetich,  24,  25. 

Isaiah,  100. 

Ise,  28,  184,  201. 

lyeyasu,  91,  100,  132,  134,  204,  205, 

338,  342,  357,  358. 
Izanagi  and  Izanami,  52,  63,  64,  207, 

218. 

JADE,  292. 
Jains,  166. 
Japan,  area,  9. 

Census,  9. 

Ethnology,  43,  44. 


454 


INDEX 


Japan,  Geography,  9,  43,  44. 

Government,  46. 

History,  10,  37,  44,  109. 

Origins,  43. 

Population,  8,  9. 

Various  names  of,  73. 
Japanese  Bride,  The,  125,  149. 
Japanese  characteristics,  112, 285, 361. 

Language,  113,  116, 135. 

Writing,  200. 
Jataka  tales,  169. 
Jealousy,  124. 

Jesuits,  247,  329,  337,  341,  343. 
Jesus,  76,  97,  100,  117. 
Jimmu  Tenno,  389. 
Jin  Gi  Kuan,  49,  94,  390-392. 
Jizo,  247,  305. 
Jo  do  sect,  259,  275. 
John,  2,  60. 
Jo-jitsu  sect,  181,  235. 
Joss,  23. 

Jun-shi,  68,  76,  119. 
Ju-ro-jin,  218. 

KABURAGI,  36,  60. 

Kada  Adzumaro,  91. 

Kami,  30. 

Kami-dana,  86,  88,  295. 

Kamui,  30. 

Kana,  199,  200,  274. 

Kanda,  Dai  Mio-Jin,  205. 

Karma,  162,  169, 186,  234,  258. 

Kato  Kyomasa,  278,  334,  339. 

Ke-gon  sect,  242-244. 

Keichu,  91. 

Kern,  Prof.  H.,  155,  229. 

Kioto,  183,  296,  330,  336. 

Kirin,  19. 

Kishimoto,  Mr.  Nobuta,  11. 

Kiushiu,  339. 

Kiyomori,  120. 

Knox,  Dr.   George  Wm.,   132,  226, 

288,  385. 

Kobayashi,  Rev.  Ze-jun,  425. 
Kobo,  89,  197,  205,  248,  250. 


Kojiki,  29,  32,  40,  41,  52,  74,  82-90, 

149,  195,  197. 
Ko-ken,  Empress,  310. 
Kompira,  204. 
Konishi,  334,  335. 
Korea,  9,  21,  26,  40,  41,  74,  106,  107, 

168,  179,  180,  292,  310,  328,  332, 

333,  334,  355,  368. 
Kosatsu,  368. 
Ko-ya,  198. 
Kumi,  Prof.,  76-82. 
Kun-shin,  111,  113,  116,  117,  213. 
Ku-sha  sutra,  233,  233. 
Kwannon,  181,  207,  247,  319. 
Kyuso,  132,  144. 

LAMAISIN,  167. 
Language  of  China,  27. 

of  England,  295. 

of  Holland,  364,  365. 

of  Japan,  39,  113,  116,   134,  265, 
295,  299,  364. 

of  Korea,  116. 
Lao  Tsze,  102,  144,  218. 
Laws  of  Japan,  358. 
Lecky,  Mr.,  344. 
Legendre,  Gen.,  385,  389. 
Legge,  Dr.  J.,  100,  378. 
Libraries,  253,  327. 
Lingam,  see  Phallicism. 
Literature,  39,   109,   141,  156,   159, 

216,  252,  313,  318,  369. 
Lit  orgy,  see  Norito. 
Lloyd,  Rev.  A.,  258. 
Loo-choo,  see  Riu  Kiu. 
Lotus,  434,  435,  437. 
Love,  117,  118. 

Lowell,  Mr.  Percival,  397,  423. 
Loyalty,  see  Kun-shin. 
Luther,  271. 
Lyman,  Prof.  B.  S.,  383. 

MABUCHI,  89,  91. 
MacDonald,  Rev.  James,  8. 
Magatama,  68,  292. 


INDEX 


455 


Mahayana,  165 ;  see  Greater  Vehicle. 

Maitreya,  169,  170,  218,  236,  244. 

Malays,  9,  43. 

Mandala,  203. 

Manjusri,  170,  171,  179,  262. 

Mantra,  248. 

Manyo-shu,  39,  40. 

Marco  Polo,  42. 

Mark,  60. 

Marriage,  123,  126, 149. 

Martyrs,  337,  344,  359,  360,  362,  366- 

369. 

Masakado,  209. 
Matsugami,  60. 
Matsuri,  28. 

Meiji  Era,  112,  116,  256. 
Mencius,  106,  112,  137. 
Mendez,  Pinto,  42. 
Mexico,  349. 
Mikado,  44,  45,  76,  92,  95,  96,  114, 

117,  184, 191,  201. 
Mikadoism,  45-49,  74-82,  184,  202. 
Military  monks,  247. 
Minamoto,  271. 
Ming  dynasty,  134. 
Mioken,  279. 
Miracles,  216,  267. 
Mirror,  83. 

Missionary  training,  6-8. 
Mito,  111,  134,  143,  366. 
Miya,  82-84,  209. 

Monasteries,  162,  165,  298,  311,  312. 
Monotheism,  15,  81,  103,  104,   145, 

174,  187. 

Morse  lectureship,  4. 
Morse,  Prof.  E.  S.,377. 
Motoori,  89,  91,  290. 
Mozoomdar,  411,  420. 
Mttller,  Prof.  Max,  211. 
Munzinger,  Rev.  C.,  403. 
Murray,  Dr.  David,  402. 
Mutsuhito,  60,  316. 

NAGASAKI,  332,  337,  343,  344,  358, 
362. 


Nakatomi,  48. 
Names,  127,  202,  265. 
Names  of  Japan,  73,  82. 
Namu-Amida-Butsu,  259,  261. 
Nanjio  Bunyiu,  231. 
Nara,  182,  237,  243,  296. 
Nehan,  see  Nirvana. 
Nepal,  167,  168,  171. 
New  Buddhism,  284,  285. 
Nichiren,  277,  278. 

Sect,  277-280,  334,  339. 
Nihilism,  236,  240,  241. 
Nihongi,  41,  56,  62. 
Nikko,  185,  263. 

Nirvana,  162,  163,  186,  200,  302,  303. 
Nitobe,  Mr.  Inazo,  352,  360. 
Nobunaga,  312,  331,  332. 
Norito,  38,  47-49,  54,  55-58,  79,  80, 

96. 
Northern  Buddhism,  165. 

OBA.KU  sect,  283. 

Offerings,  57. 

Ogurusu,  Rev.  Ko-cho,  214. 

Ohashi  Junzo,  145. 

Ojin,204. 

Onna-ishi,  see  Phallicism. 

Original  prayer,  271. 

Original  vow,  273,  312. 

Orphan  asylums,  216. 

Osaka,  180,  312,  368. 

PAGES,  MR.  LEON,  449. 

Pagodas,  203. 

Pantheism,  31,    142,   143,    187,  219, 

243. 

Paradise,  210,  229,  259,  261,  280. 
Parliament  of  Religions,  5,  39,  72, 

282. 

Peking,  105. 
Perry,  Commodore  M.  C.,  129,  316, 

352,  360,  364,  365. 
Persecutions,  93,  343. 
Persian  elements,  195,  292,  304. 
Personality,  116. 


456 


INDEX 


Pessimism,  214. 

Phallicism,  29-30,  49-53,  88,  380-384. 

Philo,  192,  197,  201. 

Phoenix,  19,  20. 

Pilgrimages,  298,  299. 

Pindola,  see  Binzuru. 

Poetry,  222  ;  see  Manyoshu. 

Politeness,  74,  241. 

Popular  customs,  192. 

Population,  8,  9,  177,  291,  359. 

Popular  movement  in  China,  138. 

Portuguese,  344,  345,  347. 

Pratyekas,  234. 

Prayers,  86-88. 

Prayer-wheels,  175. 

Printing,  133,  134,  200. 

Prometheus,  53. 

Protestantism,  155, 162,  252,  274. 

Pronouns,  116. 

Proverbs,  28,  179,  226,  270,  307,  332, 

352,  389. 
Psychology    of    the    Japanese,  230, 

241. 

Pure  Land  of  Bliss,  198,  263-265. 
Purification  of  1870,  206,  210,  213, 

222,  248,  360. 
Pyrronism,  240. 

RAI  SANYO,  143. 

Rakan,  305. 

"Reformed"  Buddhism,  270,  274- 

277. 

Rennyo  Sho-nin,  258. 
Revision  of  Confucianism,  148-152. 
Revival  of  pure  Shinto,  91-96. 
Revolving  libraries,  253. 
Ris-shu,  236-238. 
Rituals,  see  Norito. 
Riu  Kiu,  9,  109. 
Riyobu,  89,  191,  203,  209,  211,  212, 

223. 
Rosaries,  266. 

SADDHARMA  PUNDAKIKA,  170,  229, 
246,  280,  304. 


Sado,  341. 
Salt,  85. 
I  Samurai,  110,  119,  146,  151,  152. 


San  Kai  Ri,  211. 
Sanron  sect,  182,  240. 
Sanskrit,  25,  182,  200,  210,  245,  249. 
Saratashi,  218. 

Satow,  Mr.  Ernest,  39,  47,  386. 
Satsuma,  313. 
Schools  of  Philosophy : 
Chinese,  136-139. 
Indian,  159-164,  232. 
Japanese,  356-358,  369. 
Sekigahara,  338. 
Sendai,  119. 

Seppuku,  see  Hara-kiri. 
Serpent -worship,   30-33,  278,   279, 

385. 
Seven   Gods  of  Good  Fortune,  217, 

218. 

Shaka,  160,  161,  179,  254. 
Shakyamuni,  see  Shaka. 
Shaminism,  15-17. 
Shang-Ti,  103,  104. 
Shari,  182. 

Shastra  and  Sutra,  231. 
Shichimen,  278. 
Shigemori,  120. 
Shimabara,  344. 
Shingaku  movement,  369,  370. 
Shingon  sect,  185,  203,  248-251. 
Shinran,  271-274. 
Shin  sect,  270-276,  317. 
Shinto,  38,  42,  76,  89,  96,  97,  142, 184, 

195,  214,  319. 
Sin,  285,  288. 
Sho-gun,  110,  115,  143. 
Shomon,  236. 

Shotoku,  180,  181,  208,  236,  313. 
Siddartha,  410. 
Soga  no  Inam6,  180. 
Soshi,  95,  278. 

Southern  Buddhism,  165,  167. 
Spaniards,  336,  337,  340,  347. 
Stars,  92. 


INDEX 


457 


Statistics  of  Buddhism,  309. 

of  Shinto,  400,  401. 
Sugawara  Michizane,  204. 
Suicide,  112,  118-121,  147,  151. 
Suiko,  180. 

Sung  dynasty,  414,  137. 
Sun-goddess,  66,  104,  201,  203. 
Sun-worship,  46,  47,  82,  87. 
Swastika,  305. 
Swords,  7,  378. 
Syle,  Rev.  E.  W.,  36. 
Syncretism,  191-194,  205. 
Synergism,  268,  271,  272. 
Szma  Kwang,  138. 


,  see  Hideyoshi. 
Takahashi,  Mr.  Goro,  384. 
Takashi,  Rev.  Dai-Ryo,  238. 
Taketori  Monogatari,  423. 
Tantra  system,  194. 
Taoism,  106,  215,  218. 
Tathagata,  259. 
Tathata,  243,  246. 
Taylor,  Bayard,  380. 
Tea  plant,  208. 
Tei-Shu  philosophy,  139,  145. 
Temples,  83,  93,  209,  305-309. 
Ten,  144. 

Tendai  sect,  185,  244-248,  268. 
Tenjin,  204. 
Tenno,  184. 
Tenshi,  184. 
Terence,  128. 
Theism,  172. 

Theological  seminaries,  6-8. 
Tibet,  165,  167,  170. 
Tobacco,  209. 

Tokugawas,  141,  143,  356,  365. 
Torii,  84,  210. 
Tortoise,  19. 

Transmigration  of  souls,  315. 
Tree-  worship,  30,  31. 
Triads,  171,  255,  279. 
Trinity,  428. 
Tripitaka,  160,  170,  231. 


Tsuji,  Rev.  Ken-ko,  425, 
Tsukushi,  44. 
Tsushima,  44. 
Tycoon,  see  Sho-gun. 

UEDA,  REV.  SHO-HEN,  425. 
Upanishads,  156,  161,  162. 
Ushi  toki  mairi,  31. 
Uzume,  68. 

VAQBA,  305. 
Vagrabodhi,  248,  249. 
Vairokana,  184,  2-14,  250. 
Vedas,  156,  158,  159,  160, 162. 
Vehicles,   the  three,  234,    235;    see 

also  Hinayana  and  Mahayana. 
Victims,  74. 

WASHINGTON,  114. 
Western  Paradise,  277. 
Wheel  of  the  law,  302. 
Whitney,  Prof.  W.  D.,  211,  277. 
William  the  Silent,  114. 
Woman,  123,  149,  275,  318-320. 

XAVIEB,  324,  329,  330,  345,  346,  347. 

YAMATO,    44,    76,  87,  91,  109,177, 

179. 

Damashii,  44,  147,  151,  152,  172. 
Yamato-Tosa  art,  114. 
Yedo,  110,  115,  119,  141,  220,  238, 

340,  360,  366. 
Yen  sect,  252-256. 
Yezo,  43,  317. 

Yoga,  157,  197,  199,  201,  209,  211. 
Yoga-chara,  194,  203,  249. 
Yokoi  Heishiro,  112,  316,  366,  367. 
Yoni,  see  Phallicism. 
Yoshida  Shoin,  147. 
Yoshiwara  system,  404. 
Yuan  chang,  see  Genjd". 

ZENDO,  261-262,  267. 
Zenkoji,  179,  181, 


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